Baghdad hopes to reach agreement with Iraqi Kurdistan to resume oil exports
A worker walks down the stairs of an oil tank at Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, said on Tuesday that he is optimistic about a possible agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to resume oil exports in the coming days.
Abdul-Ghani mentioned in a statement that oil production sharing contracts concluded with the KRG are unacceptable. He added that he proposed to the KRG and foreign oil companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan to change the current contracts to profit-sharing contracts.
Crude oil may start flowing from northern Iraq to Turkey again this week after Baghdad said it had reached an understanding with Ankara after oil exports stopped for more than seven months.
Turkey said last month that the pipeline was ready to start operations, but Iraq confirmed that it had not received any official notification about the pipeline.
A senior energy advisor told Reuters that Baghdad was waiting for the outstanding financial and technical issues to be resolved before resuming oil exports.
Turkey stopped oil flows of 450,000 barrels per day through the oil pipeline in northern Iraq leading to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on March 25, two days after a ruling issued by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
The ICC ordered Ankara to pay compensation of $1.5 billion to Baghdad for the unauthorized oil exports by the KRG.