A general view of oil tanks at Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which is run by state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), some 70 km (43.5 miles) from Adana February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
DUBAI, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Baghdad will announce in the coming hours the resumption of oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, according to an Iraqi oil ministry statement.
Iraq will export 185,000 barrels per day through state oil marketer SOMO, and that quantity will gradually increase, the ministry added in a statement.
Oil flows through the Ceyhan pipeline were halted by Turkey in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorised exports between 2014 and 2018.
Iraqi Kurdistan authorities had agreed with the federal oil ministry to restart Kurdish crude exports based on available volumes, Kurdistan’s regional government said on Sunday, after resolving its dispute with the government in Baghdad.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is putting pressure on Iraq to allow Kurdish oil exports to restart or face sanctions alongside Iran, sources have told Reuters. An Iraqi official later denied pressure or the threat of sanctions.
Reuters also reported on Thursday the Iraqi government had made a fresh attempt to deem all Kurdish production-sharing oil contracts illegal by filing new papers to a court in Baghdad, a move that casts doubt on where the exported crude would come from.
There are no commercial agreements yet in place with the international oil firms operating in the area for the resumption of exports, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
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Reporting by Jana Choukeir; editing by David Evans and Alex Richardson
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