Iraqi Ministry of Oil announces preliminary agreement to resume oil exports from Kurdistan Region

Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Ministry of Oil announced a preliminary agreement to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) on Saturday. 

According to the ministry's spokesman, Assem Jihad, the agreement needs the federal government's approval. 

Jihad stated that the Ministry of Oil wants to expedite the resumption of oil exports, after which differences between the federal and the Kurdish governments will be resolved regarding other issues. 

"Iraqi Kurdistan has obligations and companies contracting with it to extract oil, and it has obligations with the countries exporting crude oil to it and pays monthly. Therefore, these matters must be discussed, and mechanisms should be established for agreement between the two parties later," added Jihad. 

Last week, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil announced that it had won a long-term arbitration case against Turkey regarding exporting crude oil from the Kurdistan Region through the Turkish port of Ceyhan. As a result of the case, Iraq stopped the export of 450,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Kurdistan Region and the northern fields of Kirkuk.

Baghdad filed the arbitration case in 2014, alleging that Turkey violated a joint agreement by allowing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to export oil through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. While the Federal Ministry of Oil stated that it had won the case, it also indicated that it would discuss the export mechanism through the same port with the Kurdish and Turkish authorities.