ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An association of oil producers operating in the Kurdistan Region on Friday welcomed efforts by the United States secretary of state to restart Kurdish oil exports.
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) “applauds U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s efforts to restart oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including in a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on February 25, 2025,” read a statement from the association.
Sudani held a phone call with Rubio on Tuesday, discussing the need to accelerate the resumption of oil exports that have been stopped for nearly two years following a court case.
Sudani and Rubio “agreed on the need for Iraq to become energy independent, to quickly reopen the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline, and to honor contractual terms for U.S. companies working in Iraq to attract additional investment,” US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a readout of their phone call.
Iraq's oil minister confirmed on Monday that the pipeline to Turkey's Ceyhan port is ready to use. Hayyan Abdul Ghani told state media that his ministry is engaged in “ongoing discussions and correspondence with Turkey to resume exports, and once we receive approval from Turkey, the export will resume.”
He expressed hope that “exports will resume within the next two days” after the resolution of “some technical issues.”
APIKUR said they are ready to resume exports, but first need a formal agreement about payments.
“As has been repeatedly made clear, APIKUR member companies remain prepared to immediately resume exports as soon as formal agreements are reached to provide surety of payment for past and future exports consistent with our existing contractual legal and commercial terms. There has not yet been any outreach in this regard to APIKUR member companies,” Myles B. Caggins III, spokesperson for APIKUR, told Rudaw English on Friday.
The exports were stopped in March 2023 after the International Court of Arbitration ruled in Iraq’s favour that Turkey had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement when it allowed the Kurdistan Region to independently export oil. The final hurdle in negotiations to resume exports was resolved earlier this year when the Iraqi parliament passed an amendment to the federal budget to increase transportation and production fees paid to oil producers.
