Iraq is preparing to divert most of Kirkuk oilfield's future production to local refineries as a conflict with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities over the use of an export pipeline to Turkey continues, an Iraqi official told Reuters on Monday.

Kirkuk's production stopped in mid-October after Iraqi forces dislodged fighters from Kirkuk and took over the northern region's oilfields.

Diverting Kirkuk's crude to Dora, a refinery near Baghdad, and to another one in Baiji, north of the capital, would help free up more oil for exports from the southern region, the official told Reuters.

Some Kirkuk crude would also be shipped "in the near future" by trucks to Iran's Kermanshah refinery, at a rate of 30,000 barrels per day, the official said, declining to be identified. The takeover of Kirkuk, a mixed area which had been under KRG control since 2014, was part of retaliatory measures taken by the Iraqi government against a referendum for independence held in September in northern Iraq.