Baghdad affirms openness to resume Iraqi Kurdistan's oil exports
In a statement to the state-run news agency (INA), Iraq's Oil Minister, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, said that the government is ready to receive oil from the Kurdistan region of Iraq and export it through Turkey.
Abdul-Ghani stated that agreements with Iraqi Kurdistan are nearing completion, with the exception of a thorny issue over how much of the oil produced would be used domestically.
The oil minister added that the 2024 general budget required the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to supply 400,000 barrels per day to the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) for export.
Due to financial and legal concerns, crude oil shipments through the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline, which formerly handled around 0.5 percent of the world's oil supply, have ceased since March 2023.
After the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris ruled that Ankara had violated a 1973 treaty by permitting oil exports without the approval of the federal government in Baghdad, oil flows via the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline were stopped.
The ruling obligated Turkey to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in compensation for losses caused by the KRG's illegal oil exports between 2014 and 2018.
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