Turkish Delegation to Visit Iraq for Talks on Resuming Kurdistan's Oil Export
Shafaq News/ A Turkish energy delegation will meet oil officials in Iraq and the Kurdistan region to discuss the resumption of Iraq's northern oil exports, the region's minister of natural resources, Kamal Muhammad Saleh, revealed on Wednesday.
Turkey halted Iraq’s 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of northern exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline on March 25 after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
The ICC ordered Turkey to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion for unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.
The 80 days halt has cost the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over $2 billion, Reuters calculations found.
The crude oil pipeline runs from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, and the KRG began exporting crude independently from Iraq's federal government in 2013, a move Baghdad deemed illegal.
"Baghdad and Erbil have completed the preparations to resume oil pumping from Kurdistan," he said, "the decision to proceed, however, is contingent on Ankara and Baghdad having an agreement."
Attempts to restart the pipeline were delayed by Turkey's presidential elections last month and discussions between Iraq's state-owned marketer SOMO and the KRG over an export deal, which has now been reached.
On June 19, a Turkish delegation visited Iraq to discuss the matter but failed to reach common ground.
