ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Oil exports through the Kurdistan Region start at around 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) and fluctuate from day to day, Iraq's oil ministry spokesperson told Rudaw on Wednesday, despite an agreement allowing the transport of 750,000 bpd through Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
Salim al-Rukabi, spokesperson for the Iraqi ministry of oil, told Rudaw's Malik Mohammed on Wednesday that exports through its southern ports are averaging nearly 2 million bpd while the volume of exports through its northern route which passes through the Kurdistan Region to Turkey's Ceyhan port “is still not stable and starts from 150,000 barrels, with fluctuations occurring from day to day.”
Iraq and Turkey signed a one-year agreement on the first of August to transport Iraqi crude through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan, after the previous oil transit agreement expired in late July. Rukabi described the new deal as "a temporary agreement."
The agreement aims to gradually increase exports through the pipeline to 750,000 bpd, but the target is not an immediate requirement, Rukabi said. Instead, exports will increase in stages until they reach the agreed level.
This comes as Baghdad seeks to restore oil exports disrupted by the regional conflict and reduce its reliance on routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iraq previously exported more than 3.5 million bpd before the war involving Iran, the US, and Israel began on February 28, according to the oil ministry.
Rukabi said Iraqi crude is handed over to buyers at the ports, adding that "companies and purchasing parties themselves bear responsibility for transporting the oil and passing through the Strait of Hormuz."
Iraq's oil exports fell sharply following the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, resulting in significant disruptions in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the main route for at least 94 percent of the country's seaborne crude exports, according to figures provided to Rudaw by Iraq’s former prime minister Sudani’s economic advisor, Mazhar Mohammed Salih in March while only about 5 percent has historically been transported through alternative routes that bypass the Strait.
Last week, the oil ministry said exports had recovered to an average of 2 million bpd since the beginning of August. Oil minister Bassim Khudair said July exports totaled about 49 million barrels.
Prior to the crisis, Iraq exported around 106 million barrels of crude per month. Exports fell to 18.6 million barrels in March, generating about $1.96 billion in revenue, compared with more than 99 million barrels and $6.8 billion in February, according to Oil Ministry figures.
Khudair has raised the necessity of Iraq development of alternative export routes to prevent similar disruptions to its economy in the future, stressing that the country's oil fields are capable of restoration to pre-war export levels.
