IRAQ – Iraq has resumed crude oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region to Turkey after a provisional agreement ended a two-and-a-half-year deadlock over legal and technical disputes.
The restart began at 6:00 a.m. local time (03:00 GMT) on Saturday, according to a statement from Iraq’s Oil Ministry. “Operations started smoothly and at a rapid pace without any significant technical issues,” the ministry said. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar also confirmed the development in a post on X.
Iraq’s oil minister told Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw on Friday that the agreement between the federal government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and foreign oil producers operating in the region will allow 180,000 to 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude to flow to Turkey’s Ceyhan port. The resumption follows a tripartite agreement this week between the ministry, the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources, and international oil companies.
The United States had pushed for the restart, which is expected to eventually bring up to 230,000 bpd back to international markets at a time when OPEC is raising production to expand its market share. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the agreement, calling it “a deal that will bring tangible benefits to both Americans and Iraqis.”
Iraq’s OPEC delegate, Mohammed al-Najjar, said his country could export more crude following the resumption of flows through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, in addition to expansion projects planned at Basra port, state news agency INA reported on Saturday. “OPEC member states have the right to demand an increase in their production shares, especially if they have projects that have boosted production capacity,” he said.
Companies operating in the Kurdish region will receive USD 16 per barrel to cover production and transportation costs. The eight oil companies that signed the deal and the Kurdish authorities agreed to meet within 30 days of the restart to establish a mechanism for settling the USD 1 billion debt the KRG owes to the firms.
Control over the lucrative oil exports has long been a point of contention between Baghdad and Erbil. The deal is seen as an important step toward increasing Iraq’s oil revenues and stabilizing relations between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish region. (Aljazeera)
