KRG Official: Iraq And KRG Reach A Deal On Oil Exports

(CTN News) – As a result of an initial agreement reached between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), oil exports from the northern part of the country are set to resume this week.

It has been reported by Lawk Ghafuri, the head of foreign media affairs for the KRG, that a joint agreement has been reached between the KRG and the federal government to resume oil exports through Ceyhan [in Turkey] this week, following several meetings between the two parties.

According to Ghafuri, “This agreement will remain in effect until the Iraqi Parliament has approved the oil and gas law bill,” he said.

As a result, Turkey has been banned from exporting oil from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region between 2014 and 2018, after an arbitration court in Paris ruled that Turkey violated a 1973 agreement with Iraq by exporting the resource without Baghdad’s consent between 2014 and 2018.

A pipeline was used to transport the oil from the Kurdish border of Fish-Khabur to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, where it was exported to Europe.

Several companies, including the Norwegian oil and gas operator DNO and the Canada-based Forza Petroleum, have suspended operations or have begun storing their production following the court’s decision last week.

The United States-based energy company HKN Energy stated last week that it would shut down its operations if the financial situation did not improve within a week.

According to the court’s ruling, around 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil supply had been halted as a result of the court’s decision, about 0.5 percent of the global oil supply had been denied. The move, however, had a negative impact on oil prices, which fell back to nearly $80, according to Reuters, after the move.

The resumption of pipeline flows from the KRG is expected to require approval from the Turkish government before it will be possible to resume pipeline flows.

The KRG has informed Reuters that a letter will be sent by Baghdad to Ankara requesting the resumption of oil flow.

I would like to know if SOUR1AQ will reopen before the pipeline reopens.

As part of the semi-autonomous region that is part of Iraq, oil exports have been a very contentious issue.

After a landmark decision was issued by the Iraqi Supreme Court in February last year, which ruled that a 2007 oil and gas law regulating the KRG’s petroleum industry was unconstitutional, tensions escalated in the KRG.

As soon as he became Iraq’s prime minister in October last year, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani began working to quell tensions in the country, which have been escalating since then.

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