Turkey expresses its readiness to resume oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan
A worker standing next to Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Turkish Ambassador to Iraq, Ali Reza Gunay, expressed on Monday his country’s readiness to resume oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan.
Gunay’s remarks took place during his meeting with the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Masrour Barzani, according to a statement issued by the KRG.
Barzani and Gunay discussed the most recent events in Iraq and the region, strategies to enhance bilateral ties and trade exchange, as well as measures to make it easier for tourists to travel between the two countries.
The meeting focused on the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where the two sides emphasized the importance of resuming oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan as soon as possible.
The Turkish ambassador expressed his country’s readiness to resume the export process.
On November 12, the Iraqi Oil Minister, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, announced that an agreement would be reached with the KRG, oil companies, and Ankara to resume oil exports from Iraq to Turkey.
At that time, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil said in a statement that Abdul-Ghani and his accompanying delegation met with the Prime Minister of Iraqi Kurdistan in Erbil to discuss issues related to oil exports, which had been halted for months.
Turkey had stopped transporting Kurdistan’s oil to the port of Ceyhan on March 25 following an international arbitration decision obligating Ankara to pay compensation to Baghdad for violating the 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing the export of the region’s oil without Baghdad’s approval between 2014 and 2018.