ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s oil exports through Turkey could be resumed next week after nearly two years of suspension, the chairman of the Iraqi parliament’s oil and gas committee said on Wednesday following a meeting with the relevant federal officials. "God willing, the oil exports through the Kurdistan Region next week - based on what the committee formed by the oil ministry said,” Haybat al-Halbousi told reporters after hosting a committee formed by the Iraqi oil ministry, which includes Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO). The meeting focused on the recent amendment to the Iraqi budget law, which stipulates that the federal government is required to pay $16 as remuneration per barrel of oil produced in the Kurdistan Region. 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. The court determined that Turkey had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by permitting Erbil to export oil independently starting in 2014. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar visited Baghdad and Erbil earlier this week to discuss the resumption of the Kurdish oil exports with the regional and federal governments. Negotiations between Iraqi and Kurdish officials, as well as with international oil companies (IOCs), have yet to result in a definitive resolution. IOCs are seeking guarantees of payment and contractual security, while Baghdad insists on federal oversight. Erbil, meanwhile, aims for a solution that protects its economic interests. On Saturday, Iraqi government spokesperson Bassem al-Awadi told Rudaw that the main obstacles to the resumption of the Kurdistan Region's oil exports have been cleared, and that exports "may restart this month."
