Iraq may reach agreement with KRG to resume oil supplies to Turkiye this week, Minister says

Iraq could reportedly reach an agreement with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and foreign oil companies this week to finally resume production and supplies from the northern Iraqi region to Turkiye after months of delays.

During a visit to the Kurdistan region’s capital, Erbil, on Sunday, Iraqi Oil Minister, Hayan Abdel-Ghani, told reporters that Iraq has reached an “understanding” with Turkiye in regards to resumption of northern oil exports through the pipeline between the two countries, and that the supplies could soon resume as he expects to reach a final agreement with the regional government and oil companies within a few days.

On the same day, the Minister started meetings with the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources and senior Kurdish energy officials to discuss the matter, saying that the “purpose of this meeting is to resolve all issues to facilitate resumption of oil production and exports”.

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According to Abdel-Ghani, the “First step is to agree with the region and companies on adjusting their existing contracts to be consistent with Iraq’s Constitution. We could reach a deal in three days.”

In March, Iraq’s northern oil export route – which carries almost half a million barrels of crude per day contributes around 0.5 percent of global crude supply – was halted following the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) arbitration ruling, ordering Turkiye to pay Iraq billions of dollars in damages for unauthorised exports between 2014 and 2018.

Last month, Turkiye revealed that it was set to restart operations on the crude oil pipeline within a week, but that process was seemingly delayed for unconfirmed reasons, most likely due to reservations from the Iraqi government regarding its alignment with the constitution.

All sides are urging for the resumption of operations, however, with the KRG especially losing approximately $35 million per day due to the halting of the pipeline and supplies.

READ: Iraq loses $5.5bn due to halt in oil exports through Turkiye