Iraq resumes Kurdish oil exports to Turki after a two -and -a -half -year stop Oil and gas news

Control of profitable exports was a major point of disagreement between Baghdad and the Kurdistan region, with a major pipeline closed to Turki since 2023.

Iraq has resumed crude oil exports from the Kurdistan semi -self -to -Turkish region after a temporary agreement on a dead end for two and a half years on legal and technical disputes.

The appeal started at 6 am local time (03:00 GMT), according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Oil in Iraq on Saturday. The ministry said: “The operations began at a rapid pace and a full smoothness without recording any important technical problems.”

Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar also confirmed the development in a publication on X.

The agreement between the federal government in Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and foreign oil producers will allow the region from 180,000 to 190,000 barrels per day from crude to flow to Sihan Port in Turki.

The appeal follows a triple agreement reached earlier this week between the ministry, the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdish region, and international oil companies operating in the region.

The United States has prompted a restart, which is expected to eventually bring up to 230,000 barrels per day from crude to international markets at a time when the organization of oil exporting (OPEC) increases from obtaining a market share. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the deal in a statement, saying that it “will bring tangible benefits to both Americans and Iraqis.”

Muhammad al-Najjar said that the OPEC delegate in Iraq can issue his country more than it is now after the resumption of flows through the Kirkok-Sihan pipeline, in addition to other projects planned in the port of Basra.

He said, “OPEC’s member states have the right to demand an increase in their shares (production), especially if they have projects that led to an increase in productive ability.”

Companies operating in the Kurdistan region will receive $ 16 a barrel to cover production and transportation costs. The eight oil companies that signed the deal and the Kurdish authorities agreed to fulfill within 30 days of exports to resume work on a mechanism to settle suspended debts of one billion dollars, condemning the Kurdistan region of companies.

Control of profitable oil exports was a major point of disagreement between Baghdad and Erbil, while considering the deal a step towards strengthening oil revenues in Iraq and stabilizing the relationship between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish region.

Oil exports were previously sold independently by the Kurdish authorities, without the approval or supervision of the federal authorities in Baghdad, through the port of Sehan in Turki.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline was stopped in March 2023 when the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris ordered that Iraq pay $ 1.5 billion as compensation for unauthorized exports by the Kurdish regional authorities.

The Petroleum Industry Association in Kurdistan, which represents international oil companies operating in the region, has put losses in Iraq since the pipeline was closed by more than 35 billion dollars.