Iraq has invited international oil companies and semi-autonomous Kurdistan's energy regulator for talks aimed at restarting crude exports from the region, following a years-long dispute over revenue and costs.
The federal Oil Ministry has called the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (Apikur) – comprising eight oil companies producing over 60 per cent of Kurdistan's oil – and the Kurdistan regional government’s Ministry of Natural Resources to a meeting in Baghdad on March 4, it said on Saturday.
The meeting aims to discuss issues related to existing contracts and seek agreements that align with international best practices for oilfield development, while protecting national interests, the ministry said.
On Friday, Apikur had said that its members would not resume oil exports through Turkey's Ceyhan, despite an earlier announcement from Baghdad that the restart was imminent.
The Oil Ministry said that Iraq would directly export the region's oil through the state-run oil marketing company Somo, using the Turkish Ceyhan port, starting at an initial rate of 185,000 barrels per day (bpd), which will be gradually increased.
Apikur member companies on Saturday said they had taken note of the published announcement outlining the March 4 meeting in Baghdad, where the Iraqi and Kurdish governments will address the reinstatement of oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, but they had received no official communication.
“Companies are awaiting their official invitation letter,” representative Myles Caggins told The National. Earlier, in a statement to The National on Saturday, the group had said: “We remain ready to meet with appropriate officials to discuss these issues and restore exports of oil for the benefit of all Iraqi people."
A 970km pipeline transports Iraqi crude oil, primarily from the Iraqi-Kurdish Kirkuk area, to export terminals at Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
In March 2023, Turkey suspended the flow of about 450,000 barrels of Iraqi oil daily through the Ceyhan pipeline, of which 370,000 bpd originated from the Kurdistan region.
The stoppage came after an arbitration court ruled in favour of Baghdad, saying Ankara had breached a 1973 agreement when it allowed the Iraqi Kurdistan administration to pump without the consent of the federal government in Baghdad.
Since then, Baghdad and the region have failed to agree on issues related to resumption of exports, including the approval of deals the Kurds signed unilaterally with oil companies and a system for the payment of developers.
There are other unresolved issues around payment, pricing and maintenance, sources told Reuters. Two days of talks in the Kurdish city of Erbil failed to reach agreement.
The federal government wanted exports to restart without making commitments to the Kurdistan regional government on payments and without clarity on the payment mechanism, a source told Reuters.
Comments from Kurdish officials contacted by The National on Friday indicated a delay in the resumption of exports. The actual date for a resumption remains unknown, with a Kurdish official from the presidency office saying: “There is no specific day.”
People close to the negotiations suggest Kurdish oil exports to Ceyhan port, and subsequently to Mediterranean markets, are likely to restart soon, possibly within the first week of March, though no precise date is available, another official in the Kurdish regional government said.
US pressure
Last week, Reuters cited sources as saying that the Trump administration has been piling pressure on Iraq to allow Kurdish oil exports to restart, or face sanctions similar to those against Iran.
Growing pressure from Washington was a key factor behind Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani’s surprise announcement last Monday of plans to resume exports from Kurdistan this week, the report said.
An adviser to Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani denied the report, saying there had been no threat of sanctions “or any form of pressure” on Iraq in all the contacts that had taken place with the US administration recently.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani.
They agreed on the importance of Iraq's energy independence, the swift reopening of the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, and upholding contracts with US companies to boost investment, the US State Department said.
