The Kurds militarily claim the Kirkuk oil fields?

I would want a stronger story on this before I get too alarmed, but this could be the long dreaded beginning for the conflict over Kirkuk.

Iraqi Kurds have claimed oil rights in Kirkuk, which is in northern Iraq but outside the Kurdish semi-autonomous area.

Hussain al-Shahristani, the Iraqi oil minister, said this week the Peshmerga, the Kurdish militia, has been preventing the government from developing the Kirkuk oil field, The New Anatolian reported.....

A local official with the government-owned North Oil Company said an unspecified they had blocked development of the field, refusing to say whether the Peshmerga was involved.

If the Kurds were going to do this, you would think they would choose this moment of Sunni US cooperation to make this move to try and limit the Sunni response.

Again, a fairly weak story, but heads up.

(Later: This could also simply be more endemic Iraqi extortion.)