Oil companies in Iraqi Kurdistan halt exports until payments issue resolved
Oil tanks at Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Norwegian company DNO said on Thursday that international oil companies operating in the Kurdistan region of Iraq will not produce oil for export through a pipeline until the late payments issue, estimated at about one billion dollars, is resolved.
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) mentioned in mid-October that Turkey’s closure of the oil pipeline in March made Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and oil producers all lose a total of $7 billion.
DNO illustrated that the six members of APIKUR, including itself, will not resume exports through the pipeline until it is clear how they will receive their contractual entitlements for the oil that has already been sold and exported.
The company added that the accumulated debts owed to the KRG from previous oil sales in 2022 and 2023 exceeded $300 million.
Turkey stopped Iraq’s exports of 450,000 barrels per day through the oil pipeline that extends from the Kurdistan region of Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on March 25.
Turkey’s decision to suspend oil exports followed an arbitration decision issued by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris.
The decision obliged Turkey to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in compensation for damages caused by the KRG’s export of oil without permission from the federal government in Baghdad between 2014 and 2018.
The KRG began exporting crude oil independently in 2013, a step Baghdad considered illegal.