Despite Baghdad’s assurances that oil exports from Kurdistan will resume immediately after more than two years, the semi-autonomous Iraqi region isn’t prepared to restart exports, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Amid drone attacks on oilfields in Kurdistan this week, which have shut in about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in production, the federal Iraqi government said on Thursday that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would immediately begin delivering at least 230,000 bpd to Iraq’s state oil marketing firm SOMO for export. The exports would be carried out under a new agreement approved by the federal cabinet, Baghdad said on Thursday.
However, a source close to APIKUR, the association of companies active in Kurdistan, told Reuters that the restart of exports depends on the receipt of written agreements.
Another source at the company operating the pipeline via Turkey to the Mediterranean coast of Ceyhan, KAR Group, told Reuters that there haven’t been any preparations for an imminent resumption of exports.
The federal government in Baghdad and the regional Kurdish government in Erbil have been squabbling for more than two years over who should be responsible for the oil exports and the subsequent revenue distribution.
The federal authorities say Baghdad should have sole discretion in handling oil exports and oil revenues.
Oil exports from Kurdistan have now been halted nearly two and a half years after they were shut in in March 2023 due to a dispute over who should authorize the Kurdish exports. Despite some breakthroughs in negotiations in recent months, the disagreements apparently continue, and Kurdistan’s oil exports continue to be shut in.
Before the halt to exports, oil supply from Kurdistan averaged more than 400,000 bpd.
The issue with the resumption of exports was raised again this week after foreign companies operating some oilfields in the semi-autonomous region were forced to halt output following attacks with explosive-laden drones on infrastructure at the fields.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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