Iraq has signed a one-year oil-swap deal with Iran, the Iraqi Oil Minister, Jabar El Luaibi, announce, according to Reuters.

Iraq will export between 30,000 and 60,000 barrels per day (b/d) from its northern Kirkuk oilfields to its neighbor in exchange for Iranian oil, the new agency reports.

The deal is subject to renewal, the oil minister indicated.

Previous reporting by Reuters indicated that the oil could be trucked to the Kermanshah refinery in Iran.

Production from the Kirkuk oilfields has fallen dramatically after the Iraqi national government seized them from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

The KRG had taken control of the Kirkuk oilfields in 2014 to prevent them falling into the hands of ISIS and had been exporting oil from Kirkuk through its pipeline to Turkey.

Tensions between the semi-autonomous Kurdish region and the central government disintegrated over the past year, resulting in the central government launching a military operation to regain the fields in October.

The Iraqi government is also considering plans for a new pipeline that would allow it to bypass Kurdish territory and export crude directly to Turkey, according to Reuters.