Baghdad calls on Iraqi Kurdistan officials to discuss oil export resumption
Ceyhan petroleum operations field. Photo: BOTAS
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – In an attempt to come to an agreement on the restart of oil exports via an oil pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil on Tuesday asked for a meeting as soon as possible with the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and foreign companies operating in northern Iraq.
Talks to resume oil shipments have stumbled, and since March 2023, crude oil flows along the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline, which formerly handled around 0.5 percent of the world’s oil supply, have been suspended due to legal and financial uncertainty.
One of the main sources of conflict between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is the distribution of oil revenues.
After the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris decided in March 2023 that Ankara had broken a 1973 treaty by enabling oil exports without the federal government’s approval, flows via the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline were stopped.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) refuted recent media reports that incorrectly attribute the ongoing dispute over the resumption of oil exports via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to the inflexibility of foreign oil firms.
Media reports said that ongoing negotiations have come to a stop because international oil companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan have adopted an inflexible stance. However, since January 2024, there haven’t been any coordinated talks between foreign oil firms, officials from the Iraqi government, and the KRG.
Several foreign oil companies have halted production, and shipments have not yet resumed despite multiple discussions between officials in Iraqi Kurdistan, the federal government in Baghdad, and Turkish authorities.