The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) is “encouraged by the public statements from Iraqi Prime Minister that the ITP can be reopened by the end of 2024,” it said in a statement, calling for the immediate resumption of exports through the pipeline ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani late Saturday arrived in New York to attend the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), his office announced.
Before his visit, al-Sudani told Bloomberg in a televised interview that “there are ongoing talks with the companies and with brothers in the Kurdistan Region. And we hope to reach a solution based on the legal paths.” He called a solution by the end of 2024 “Possible”.
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.
Before the halt, Erbil exported around 400,000 barrels per day through Ankara, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk’s oil.
The international oil companies (IOCs) and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are bound by Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs). Under the Kurdistan Region’s PSC model, the IOCs cover the entire cost of production while the KRG receives the lion’s share of the profits from successful projects.
Baghdad has repeatedly said that the PSCs between the IOCs and the KRG are a violation of the Iraqi constitution, stressing that the contracts need to be amended into service contracts such as the ones in federal Iraq before exports can resume.
The loss in oil revenues, the Kurdistan Region’s main source of income, has worsened the financial situation and left the government unable to pay its public sector without assistance from Baghdad.
Erbil and Baghdad have held numerous meetings since the halt but to no avail. In December, APIKUR said it had been excluded from the talks.
