Iraq will restart the export of oil from its Kurdish region to Turkey after an interruption of more than two years, following what Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani called an historic agreement between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government.
Under the agreement, Iraq's state oil marketer SOMO will export the crude from Kurdish oil fields through a pipeline to Turkey.
Flows through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline had been shut since March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Turkey to pay Iraq $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorised exports by the Kurdish regional authorities.
The Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement it had reached an agreement to deliver all crude from Kurdistan fields, except volumes for local use, to SOMO for export via the pipeline to Ceyhan. The ministry did not specify when flows would restart.
Eight oil companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan, representing over 90 per cent of production, reached agreements in principle on Wednesday with Iraq’s federal and regional governments to resume exports.
Before the exports were suspended, Iraq was shipping about 230,000 barrels per day through the pipeline.
Turkey is appealing the order to compensate Iraq which led to the pipeline being shut, but says it is ready to restart the pipeline.
(Reporting by Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Peter Graff)
