Iraqi Kurdistan is negotiating with two or three major international companies to operate oil blocks and expects to announce the results in about a month, Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami said on Tuesday.

Iraqi Kurdistan awarded Chevron Corp a stake in the Qara Dagh oil block, Hawrami said last week.

Kurdistan has upset the central government in Baghdad by signing deals directly with oil majors such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil, providing lucrative production-sharing contracts and better operating conditions than in the south of the country.

"We are negotiating with two to three other significant companies. They will hopefully be announced in a month or so," he said.

He added that no Kurdish oil has left the autonomous region for a while, as Baghdad had reneged on payments.

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) stopped contributing exports to the main pipeline in December.

"Currently nothing is going through the main pipeline, and has (not been) for a while," Hawrami told reporters at a conference in London.

Exports by truck stopped two or three weeks ago, Hawrami said, but they should resume next week. He added that the exports would begin with a limited amount of condensate, and maybe some crude top-up.

"We are working on some procedures to have a clear monitoring and metering system ...at the border before we allow (further exports)."

The central Iraqi government in Baghdad has repeatedly stated that it considers independent exports from the KRG as smuggling.