WASHINGTON DC - Utilizing and expanding oil exports through the Kurdistan Region’s pipeline to Turkey will not only benefit Baghdad but the entire country, energy experts told Rudaw on Wednesday, emphasizing that the underutilized export route will serve Iraq’s interests amid fluctuating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Atlantic Council’s tenth energy forum in Washington DC, Myles B. Caggins III, spokesperson for the International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the Kurdistan Region, said, “It is very clear during this war with Iran that exporting oil through the Kurdistan Region is essential for all people of Iraq.”
He added that Baghdad realizes “the importance of producing more oil and having that oil exported through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.”
For his part, Raad al-Kadiri, an energy expert, warned that the new Iraqi government is facing a “major energy crisis.”
He explained that “the key [issue] for the Iraqi government right now is how do you find export routes that are not disrupted through the Strait [of Hormuz], and obviously, the Kurdistan route is a vital component of that,” he said.
Iraqi oil exports have plummeted in the past three months, hitting 10 million barrels in April, while the country’s monthly exports through Hormuz normally reach 92 million barrels.
The significant decline followed the outbreak of the US-Israeli war against Iran in late February, which was brought to a halt with a Pakistani-brokered ceasefire between the warring sides on April 8.
Despite the fragile truce, both the US and Iran have resumed imposing tit-for-tat restrictions on navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting much of the commercial shipping in the strategic waterway.
The sharp drop in exports has compelled Iraq to increase overland exports, including through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, which runs through the Kurdistan Region.
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.
“The new Iraqi government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, has made a good first step in calling for a meeting to bring in the oil producers in the Kurdistan Region,” Caggins III noted.
Last week, Zaidi met with a delegation from Erbil that included IOCs operating there. He asked them to scale up production while providing security guarantees for the protection of oil fields.
Energy infrastructure in the Kurdistan Region - during and before the Iran war -have faced drone and missile attacks launched inside Iraqi territory. The strikes have forced companies to reduce production.
Kurdish officials have repeatedly attributed the attacks to Iran-backed armed groups in Baghdad.
As a spokesperson for the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), which brings together local and international oil companies operating in the Region, Caggins III has repeatedly called for increased production.
“I have appeared on Rudaw Network [numerous times] repeating this for more than two years now,” he said, adding that hearing signals that Baghdad seeks to increase production from 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 600,000 or 700,000 is a “good sign” for the companies he represents as well as Iraqis.
For his part, Kadiri added that Baghdad will “have to work with the IOCs” on “alternative arrangements, of which Kurdistan will be an important one,” to address an imminent “fiscal crisis” Iraq might face as it proceeds to negotiate a new deal with Turkey over the pipeline.
Of note, the more than five-decade-long deal between Iraq and Turkey is set to expire in late July, following Turkey’s 2025 decision to terminate the agreement and pursue a more “comprehensive” one.
Baghdad has already formed a “specialized team” to negotiate a new draft agreement with Ankara, an official from the Iraqi oil ministry told Rudaw on Saturday.
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