ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A high-level meeting in Baghdad on Wednesday between Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, representatives of the Kurdistan Region, and oil companies ended with agreements on export increases, security guarantees for oil fields, and linking oil revenues to salary payments of the Region's employees, according to an official who attended the meeting.
The meeting brought together 31 officials from Iraq, the Kurdistan Region, and international oil companies operating in the Region. According to the source, discussions focused on resuming and increasing oil exports through Turkey’s Ceyhan port, protecting energy infrastructure, and resolving disputes over public sector salaries in the Kurdistan Region.
One of the key outcomes was a pledge by Zaidi that Baghdad would compensate oil companies for any future attacks on oil facilities originating from within Iraq, the source told Rudaw on Thursday, adding that Zaidi has said that responsibility would not extend to attacks coming from outside the country.
Following the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran in late February, the Kurdistan Region came under a wave of attacks by Iran and Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups, including strikes on oil fields that disrupted production and prompted some foreign companies to suspend operations.
The source told Rudaw that Iraqi Army Chief of Staff General Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah addressed the issue, saying the army is ready to cooperate with the Kurdistan Region to help prevent further attacks. “I am ready to visit the oil fields of the Kurdistan Region,” the source quoted Yarallah as saying. However, he added: “We may not be able to provide weapons to the Peshmerga to protect those fields.”
The talks also focused on plans to significantly increase oil exports. Iraq’s Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair said during the meeting that they could “increase the oil exports from other Iraqi fields through the Ceyhan pipeline to 375,000 barrels per day.”
Current exports through the Kurdistan pipeline average about 233,000 barrels per day, including oil from Kurdistan Region fields and blended crude from Kirkuk and other northern and central fields.
Zaidi linked higher export volumes to financial stability, stating: “If the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports reach 400,000 barrels, the problem of providing their salaries will no longer exist.”
The Kurdistan Region's salary issue is a persistent financial crisis rooted in a revenue-for-funding dispute between Erbil and Baghdad, where the federal government often withholds monthly payroll transfers - totaling roughly $650 million to $800 million - due to disagreements over Erbil’s oil exports and non-oil revenues.
According to the source, the discussions also received a positive response regarding the possibility of exporting Basra oil through northern routes. The plan aligns with recent decisions by Iraq’s Council of Ministers of Iraq to expand national export capacity in phases over the coming months.
Before the US-Iranconflict, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region were producing a combined 4.5 million barrels of oil per day, according to figures released in February. Combined production has fallen to over 1.3 million barrels per day. That marks an overall decline of 3.2 million barrels per day.
Hastyar Qadir contributed to this report.
