IRBIL, Iraq, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government has signed seven more oil deals, moves that are bound to irk Baghdad, which has called previous deals illegal.

The KRG announced the deals Tuesday as it moves forward in developing its own hydrocarbons sector. The leadership in Iraq’s national government has largely condemned the Kurdish moves, saying the region should wait until a national strategy for developing the country’s oil and gas reserves is agreed to.

A national oil law has been stuck for more than a year as negotiators are unable to decide on how much control the federal government should have over the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves and to what extent private and foreign oil companies should be allowed to invest.

The KRG had signed nearly a dozen production-sharing contracts before Tuesday. In August the KRG passed its own regional oil law and had signed three oil deals since.

“There has been great interest in Kurdistan’s exploration acreage,” KRG Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said Tuesday in announcing the new contracts. “We are pleased to be able to meet that demand.”