South Korea’s state oil company said Thursday it signed an agreement with Iraq’s Kurdish regional government to drill for oil in exchange for social infrastructure investment. The Korea National Oil Corp. and Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani of Iraq’s self-ruled Kurdish region signed the deal in Seoul, KNOC said in a release. Under the terms, KNOC gets the right to drill for oil in eight locations, or blocks, in the Kurdish region. In return, KNOC will pursue power plant and sewage facility projects worth an initial US$600 million. Full Story