Baghdad to review budget amendments to resume northern oil exports
Workers at the Tawke oil refinery near the village of Zacho, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, revealed that the Iraqi government is reviewing an amendment to the country’s general budget to be able to pay foreign oil firms operating in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The step will allow international oil companies in Iraqi Kurdistan to resume oil production and exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, according to Bloomberg.
In March 2023, Turkey halted oil flows through the pipeline connecting Iraqi Kurdistan with the port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, costing both the Iraqi and Turkish governments and the operating oil companies billions of dollars in lost income.
Turkey stopped oil flows through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline after a ruling issued by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Ankara to pay $1.5 billion in compensation to Baghdad for unauthorized oil exports between 2014 and 2018.
The ICC’s decision was issued against Turkey for violating the 1973 pipeline agreement and allowing the export of Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil without Baghdad’s approval between 2014 and 2018.
The Kurdistan region of Iraq exported approximately 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day before the pipeline was closed. Ankara later began maintenance work on the pipeline, through which about 0.5 percent of global oil supplies pass.