The oil association said in the statement that it was aware of the recent meeting between the KRG, the Iraqi government, and the IOCs and that “APIKUR member companies - which represent the majority of the oil produced by IOCs in Kurdistan - have neither been included in these meetings nor been invited to participate in any future meetings between the KRG and GoI [Government of Iraq].”
Iraqi Minister of Oil Hayyan Abdul-Ghani told Rudaw last month that following meetings with Kurdish officials in Erbil, it was agreed to hold trilateral meetings between the Iraqi oil ministry, the KRG’s natural resources ministry, and representatives of the IOCs to “find a solution that satisfies all sides.”
Ghani said the KRG’s Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) with IOCs are not in line with the Iraqi constitution but added that they are working on adjusting them.
APIKUR said that its member companies are confident that their existing contracts are “legally binding and enforceable”, adding that it believes concrete solutions can be implemented immediately that will “satisfy all parties, protect the contractual rights of the IOCs and enable the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq”.
“Sanctity of contracts and clearly defined methods of past and future payments are essential for the resumption of full oil production and export by APIKUR member companies,” said Myles Caggins, APIKUR spokesman, adding that the association is ready to meet with Iraqi and Kurdish officials.
Exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been halted since March 23 when a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying Turkey had breached a 1973 agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
Erbil and Baghdad have held multiple rounds of talks about restarting the exports. Kurdistan Region President Barzani last month said the problem now is technical rather than political.
There have been several meetings between Turkish, Iraqi, and Kurdish officials since March, but exports have yet to resume. Before the halt, around 400,000 barrels a day were being exported by Erbil through Ankara, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk’s oil.
The loss in oil revenues has worsened the financial situation and left the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) unable to pay its public sector without assistance from Baghdad. The two governments, however, cannot agree on the Kurdistan Region’s financial entitlements.
During an August meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Erbil, President Barzani said that Ankara and Erbil are bound together through shared economic and security interests and thanked Turkey for assistance and support to the Kurdistan Region “across all sectors and especially during hard times.”
