ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) natural resources ministry on Wednesday expressed its readiness to meet with the federal government and representatives of the International Oil Companies (IOCs) to reach an agreement on the resumption of the Region's oil exports.
The federal oil ministry on Tuesday expressed in a statement its "keenness" on the resumption of the Kurdistan Region's oil exports which have been halted since March last year and called for an urgent meeting with the KRG and the IOCs to resolve the matter.
“Regarding the letter from Iraq's Ministry of Oil about an urgent meeting to resolve the issue of exporting the region's oil, we, as the natural resources ministry, have been in agreement from the beginning that the issue should be resolved as quickly as possible so that the region's oil can be exported through Ceyhan port,” read a statement from the natural resources ministry.
The ministry noted that they have held several rounds of meetings in Baghdad with parliamentary and ministerial committees to reach an agreement on the matter, the latest being last week, with the representative of the federal oil ministry present.
“We are ready to visit Baghdad next week to address this issue,” the statement read.
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been halted since March 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying the latter had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), an association of oil companies working in the Kurdistan Region, welcomed the invitation from Baghdad.
Despite several talks between Kurdish, Iraqi, and Turkish officials, the exports have yet to resume, and many international oil companies have suspended production.
APIKUR in a statement on Tuesday that “recent media reports that mistakenly point to a lack of flexibility from IOCs as the reason for the continuing impasse on resumption of oil exports via the ITP [Iraq-Turkey pipeline].”
“Such reports suggest that there are ongoing talks that have stalled due to an intransigent position taken by IOCs. However, no joint discussions between IOCs and representatives of the KRG and the GoI [Government of Iraq] have occurred since January 7-9, 2024,” it added.
