Baghdad to reach an agreement with Erbil to resume Kurdistan’s oil exports
Facilities of Kurdish oil company KAR, in Erbil, Iraq. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, expressed his hope that an agreement would be reached soon between Baghdad and Erbil to resume crude oil exports to Turkey from the Kurdistan region of Iraq, after a suspension for more than a month due to a legal dispute.
In his speech during the ‘Iraq Forum 2023,’ organized by Iraqi research centers and institutes, Abdul-Ghani explained that Baghdad and Erbil are expected to reach an agreement within a week or two.
“We will reach a final agreement regarding the resumption of crude oil export,” Abdul-Ghani said, adding that there are positive indicators.
The Iraqi Oil Minister pointed out that the Turkish side is inspecting the pipelines to avoid possible oil leaks after the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey in February.
Iraq initiated arbitration proceedings with neighboring Turkey in 2014 at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, as Ankara has been importing oil for a long time from the Kurdistan region of Iraq without the approval of the federal authorities in Baghdad.
The arbitral tribunal issued this year its decision in favor of Baghdad and obligated Turkey to pay compensation to the Iraqi government, and this led Ankara to halt oil imports from northern Iraq.
Although some issues remained pending, Baghdad and the Kurdistan region of Iraq concluded a temporary agreement at the beginning of April to settle points of contention and establish a mechanism supervised by the federal government to export Kurdistan’s oil.