The oil ministers of Iraq and Turkey failed to reach an agreement, leading to a setback in efforts to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan Region, as reported by Reuters.
Iraq’s Oil Minister discussed bilateral relations and collaborative initiatives with Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar.
According to Reuters, the Iraqi and Turkish oil ministers failed to reach an agreement on resuming oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Despite their different positions, the ministers continue to dialogue to find common ground. On Monday, Abdul-Ghani visited Ankara for two days to engage with Turkey on energy and oil issues.
On March 25, Turkey stopped transporting 450,000 barrels per day of Iraqi crude through a pipeline from Fish-Khabur border region to Ceyhan port. This came after an arbitration ruling which stated that Turkey violated a mutual agreement by allowing oil exports from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to Ceyhan port without Iraq’s consent.
Article 13 of the Iraqi federal budget requires the Kurdistan Region to deliver at least 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily to SOMO (State Oil Marketing Organization) for either export through the Ceyhan port or domestic use if not exported.
Although the suspended oil flows only account for 0.5% of the global supply, oil firms operating in the area curtailed their output or stored excess production, which led to a rebound in oil prices to almost $80 per barrel last week.
In April, the Iraqi federal government and the KRG agreed to restart northern oil exports. However, the pipeline to Turkey remains inactive over four months later, underscoring the complexities involved.
