Crude oil exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan to a Turkish Mediterranean port will resume either on Wednesday or Thursday, the federal Iraqi Oil Minister, Hayan Abdul Ghani, told state news agency INA today.
Abdul Ghani was visiting the Kirkuk province in Kurdistan, where he confirmed to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the export resumption – after a two-year halt – is imminent.
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 for 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 have continued.
Before the halt to exports, oil supply from Kurdistan averaged more than 400,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The federal government and Kurdistan have reached an agreement and the semi-autonomous region will begin handing over crude output to Iraq’s state marketing firm SOMO for export, minister Abdul Ghani said today.
“We will resume oil exports via the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline today or tomorrow, with an initial phase of exporting 80,000 barrels per day, following the agreement with the Kurdistan Region,” INA quoted the minister as saying.
However, four industry sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that there was no sign that the Iraq-Turkey pipeline would resume exports imminently.
Iraq has said exports were to resume in the middle of July, but then a wave of drone attacks on oilfields in Kurdistan forced companies to shut in production and plans for the pipeline restart were delayed.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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