Oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq to Turkey rose to 255,000 barrels a day (b/d), Reuters reports.

Exports had been hovering between 200,000 and 250,000 b/d after the central government seized the Kirkuk oilfield early last week, according to Reuters. Prior to the seizure, the KRG had been exporting approximately 600,000 b/d.

The oil is exported via pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

The Iraqi Oil Minister, Jabar El Luaibi, has asked BP to play a role in increasing production from the Kirkuk oilfield. The government is looking to increase production from the fields to 700,000 b/d, Reuters reports.

“The minister is very keen to rehabilitate the Kirkuk oilfield and raise production from there as soon as possible,” a ministry spokesman, Asim Jihad, told Reuters.

The oilfield is estimated to contain 9 million barrels of recoverable crude, Reuters reports.

The central government seized control of the fields after a period of increasing tensions between Baghdad and Irbil. Last month the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) held a non-binding independence referendum—a move strongly opposed by the Iraqi government.