ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Romanian ambassador to Baghdad and the Dutch consul general to Erbil on Tuesday told Rudaw that they welcome the recent tripartite agreement between the federal and Kurdish governments and the international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Kurdistan Region to resume Kurdish oil exports.
The Kurdistan Region’s oil exports resumed earlier this month following a three-month agreement between Baghdad, Erbil and the IOCs. Exports were halted in March 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled that Ankara had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to independently export oil beginning in 2014.
“I believe this is a very important step in the normalization of the relations and I believe this agreement is most welcome because it comes back to the normality in the whole Iraq, so this is most welcome and this will offer the Iraq the possibility to increase its oil exports to Europe,” Romanian Ambassador to Iraq Radu Octavian Dobre told Rudaw.
The Netherlands' Consul General, Adriaan IJsselstein, also described the move as a “positive” development, adding that Amsterdam is “very glad” the deal was signed.
The resumption of Kurdsih oil exports has been widely welcomed, with leaders hoping that it will be followed by a lasting agreement.
Baghdad has stressed that the resumption of Kurdistan Region’s oil exports will not affect Iraq’s compliance with its latest OPEC commitments, with the Iraqi oil minister saying “they have already been counted as part of OPEC's quota.” It added that it aims to increase daily oil output from 4.4 million bpd to 5.5 million bpd by the end of the year.
Horvan Rafaat contributed to this article.
