BAGHDAD, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrastani said that Kurd's oil deals with foreign oil firms still considered "illegal" despite approving Kurdish plans to export crude oil through national pipelines.

    "Iraq's oil ministry considers the contracts signed by Kurdish regional government (KRG) with the international oil companies illegitimate and illegal," Shahrastani said on Tuesday in an interview with the state-run television of Iraqia.

    On Sunday, an official from the oil ministry told Xinhua that his ministry has approved that the KRG to export crude oil through the Iraqi pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

    Earlier, the KRG announced that exports of crude oil from fields in the Kurdish region will start officially on June 1, 2009.

    A KRG statement said that around 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) would be exported from the Tawke Field in Duhuk province, and that some 40,000 bpd will be conveyed by tankers from Taq Taq oil field in Arbil province to the northern national pipelines.

    The exported crude oil from the Kurdish fields will be marketed by Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) and the revenue will be deposited to the federal Iraq account for the benefit of all Iraqi people, the KRG statement said.