ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) netted nearly a billion dollars in oil sales in the three months before exports were suspended in March, according to a report by an international auditing company.
Between January and March, 32.3 million barrels of crude oil were exported to international markets through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, the KRG’s Media and Information Department said, citing Deloitte. The government also sold over four million barrels to local refineries.
The government received a total of $2.17 billion for exported oil and $22 million from local sales, but only pocketed a net amount of $946 million after paying the financial entitlements of oil companies and debts, as well as transportation and storing fees. A barrel of oil was sold at an average price of $67 to international buyers and $58 to local refineries.
The KRG earned about $2.8 billion from oil sales in the second half of last year, according to another report audited by Deloitte and published by the government earlier this year.
Turkey stopped the flow of Kurdish oil through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline after a Paris arbitration court on March 23 ruled in favor of Baghdad, saying Ankara had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement when it allowed the Kurdistan Region to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Turkey to pay a penalty of $1.5 billion in damages to Baghdad for allowing the KRG to independently export its oil between 2014 and 2018.
There have been several meetings between Turkish, Iraqi and Kurdish officials since the court ruling, but exports are still halted. Around 400,000 barrels a day were being exported by Erbil through Ankara, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk oil daily through the same pipeline.
The KRG is heavily reliant on oil revenues and an inability to sell its crude has severely impacted its economy. Erbil has lost billions of dollars since the exports were halted.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said that the halt is because of problems between Baghdad and Erbil, and Turkey takes no issue with exports of Kurdistan Region’s oil.
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