The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) “strongly condemns the terrorist attack against the Kurdistan Region’s oil exportation pipeline,” read the statement. The attack on Wednesday caused the suspension of oil exports. The statement does not reveal the location of the attack, the extent of the suspension of exports, or place the blame on any group.
The government “condemns this terrorist action and believes that these actions further escalate the situation in the [Kurdistan] Region and the region,” the statement added. It will “never allow threats against its interests and the income of the people of Kurdistan.”
An investigation has been launched.
Most of the Kurdistan Region’s oil is exported through neighboring Turkey for sale from Ceyhan port.
The KRG’s economy is dependent on its oil sales. In the middle of an economic crisis due to low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, Erbil is unable to pay its civil servants on time and in full and relies on payments from cash-strapped Baghdad to supplement its payroll. If the pipeline is out of commission for any length of time, this will further harm its income.
In 2016, the KRG lost an estimated $14 million per day because of sabotage on the pipeline, carried out by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The year before, the KRG blamed the PKK for an attack on the pipeline in Sirnak, Turkey.
On Thursday, the PKK issued a statement stating they had carried out a “successful sabotage action” on the Botas oil pipeline in Turkey’s Mardin province on Wednesday. “As a result of this action, the pipeline at the site was completely destroyed.” Rudaw cannot confirm that this is the same incident referred to in the KRG statement.
Updated at 10:19 pm
