ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani on Wednesday announced a new agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through Turkey’s Ceyhan port. The deal follows a sharp decline of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) in Kurdish oil production, attributed to a series of drone attacks targeting the Region’s energy infrastructure. During a visit to Kirkuk, Abdul Ghani said the Kurdistan Region is currently producing 130,000 bpd from “operational fields.” Of that, 50,000 bpd will be allocated for domestic use in the Region, while “the remaining 80,000 barrels, which will be collected” by Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) and “exported through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, God willing." Under a recent agreement between Erbil and Baghdad, the KRG has committed to exporting all of its oil - estimated at 230,000 bpd - through SOMO. In exchange, Baghdad pledged to release long-delayed salaries for public sector employees in the Region. However, repeated drone attacks - nearly 20 in July alone - have severely damaged oil production in the Region, with some oil fields forced to halt operations. A report by Iraq’s oil ministry on Tuesday noted that Kurdish oil production dropped by 100,000 bpd. The production drop has also delayed the transfer of oil to Baghdad, which has in turn stalled salary payments, as the federal government cites insufficient deliveries. Oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been suspended since March 2023, following a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court. The court found Turkey in violation of a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing the KRG to independently export oil since 2014. The KRG, federal authorities, and international oil companies continue to negotiate a long-term framework to restore full oil export capacity from the Kurdistan Region.
