"This is not an attempt to usurp the nation's oil resources, but rather our best effort to move the process forward," said Kurdish premier Nechirvan Barzani in an opinion piece written for the Wall Street Journal and posted on the regional government's website.

"(We are) leading by example... to make these valuable resources work for the people of Iraq. The resources that can ease the suffering of the people of Iraq lie beneath our feet," Barzani said.

He said the Kurdistan Regional Government had signed eight production-sharing contracts with international oil and gas companies since it passed an oil law in August, and another two were in the pipeline.

Iraqi officials have criticised the deals, saying the Kurds should have waited for the passage through parliament of a national hydrocarbons law.

Barzani said his government was "deeply disappointed by the negative reaction."

"In the last several months it has become clear to us that many in the Iraqi oil ministry are locked in a time warp dating back to the regime of Saddam Hussein, in which Baghdad holds tight control of all the resources of Iraq and uses these resources to create obeisance and loyalty to the centre," he said.

"The KRG production sharing contracts are fully consistent with the Iraqi constitution, which gives the regions of Iraq substantial control over natural resources," he said.

"The contracts are also fully consistent with the draft Iraqi oil law that was agreed to this March," he added.

The bill opens up the long state-dominated oil and gas sector to foreign investment and provides assurances that receipts will be shared equally between Iraq's 18 provinces, a measure Washington regards as key to efforts to reconcile the country's divided communities.

The draft law was approved by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national unity cabinet in July but faces a tough passage in the 275-seat parliament, where the Kurdish bloc has 53 seats.

The bill is expected to come before MPs this month.

Barzani pointed out that under the regional law, as is the case under the national legislation, 87 percent of oil revenues go into the national coffers with regional governments only keeping 13 percent.

"If we had intended to 'go it alone,' why would we ever consider passing a law which requires us to give 83 percent of the revenues to the rest of Iraq?" he asked.

"We waited five months for the Iraqi Assembly to pass the agreed draft -- they have not acted, and there is no sign that they will act anytime soon.

"In 2003, we chose voluntarily and openly to remain part of Iraq, and we will continue to do so," Barzani said.

"But does this mean that we have to be held back by the chaos and bloodshed that dominate the rest of the country? Must we sit idly by, waiting for Iraqi politicians to waste months debating oil legislation that has already been agreed upon by the major parties?"

Barzani said that in the past oil in the Kurdistan region "has been more of a curse than a blessing."

"Successive governments in Iraq have deliberately left our oil in the ground in an effort to keep our people poor and to deny our aspirations for a better way of life," he said.

"Now, after so much suffering, we have a chance to turn this curse into a blessing. And we are asked to wait while the Iraqi parliament takes its vacation, and then considers new ways to manage our resources."