ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - All major obstacles have been resolved and Kurdistan Region's oil exports could restart later this month, the Iraqi government spokesperson said on Saturday.
“According to our information and the steps that have been taken, Kurdistan Region's oil exports may restart this month,” Bassem al-Awadi told Rudaw.
On Thursday, representatives of the Iraqi oil ministry, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) natural resources ministry, and international oil companies held a second meeting in a week with an American diplomat in attendance in a bid to resolve the last hurdles before restarting exports that have been stalled for two years.
Awadi said that they might need more meetings to “reach a final outcome,” but that they are in the “final stages of resolving the disputes.”
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), which consists of eight oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region, stated hours after the Thursday meeting that any resumption of exports must be contingent upon guarantees from both Erbil and Baghdad that payments would be made and commercial terms outlined their contracts would be adhered to.
A source who attended the meeting told Rudaw English on the condition of anonymity that there was “slight progress” in the talks, but “nothing was achieved,” adding that they decided to form two committees - of which one has already been formed - to address outstanding issues.
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline were halted in March 2023 following a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court in favor of Baghdad, which claimed Ankara had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by permitting Erbil to independently export oil starting in 2014.
The Iraqi parliament in early February approved amendments to the federal budget law to authorize a $16 per barrel production and transport fee for international oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region. This move is seen as crucial to restarting oil exports.
The amendments also stipulated that the Iraqi federal government and the KRG must establish an international technical consultant body within 60 days to assess production and transportation costs for oil fields in the Kurdistan Region. If no agreement is reached, the federal council of ministers will appoint the body.
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