KRG announces upcoming tripartite meeting to resume oil exports

Shafaq News/ The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced, on Wednesday, that it has fulfilled all necessary commitments to resume oil exports to Turkiye's Ceyhan port, according to Omid Sabah, Chief of Staff to the KRG Council of Ministers.

Sabah noted that the remaining steps lie with Iraq’s Ministry of Oil, which must provide guarantees to oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region regarding the reimbursement of actual production costs. "We have no objections to resuming exports at any time, as long as the federal oil ministry can convince the companies and pay the real production costs," Sabah said during a press conference in Erbil.

He added that representatives from the KRG, oil companies, and the federal Ministry of Oil are expected to meet soon to reach a constitutional solution and resolve the matter in line with legal provisions.

In March 2023, Turkiye halted the shipment of Kurdistan Region's oil to the port of Ceyhan after an international arbitration ruling ordered Ankara to pay compensation to Baghdad for violating a 1973 pipeline agreement. The ruling held Turkiye accountable for allowing oil exports from the Kurdistan Regional Government without Iraq’s approval.

The International Criminal Court ordered Turkiye to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized exports from Kurdistan between 2014 and 2018. The pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan remains the only export route for crude oil produced in northern Iraq.