Kurdistan’s APIKUR ready to resume oil exports

Shafaq News/ The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) reaffirmed on Sunday its readiness to restart crude exports through the Iraq-Turkiye pipeline, provided that agreements between Baghdad and Erbil uphold existing contractual and economic terms for oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region.

The exports have been halted since March 2023 after the International Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of Iraq in a dispute over the Kurdish regional government's independent oil sales.

"We seek written sales and lifting agreements, with the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government, that provide payment transparency and surety without political interference," APIKUR said in a statement on X.

As we have repeatedly stated, APIKUR member companies stand ready to resume oil exports through the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline, after agreements are reached that uphold our member companies existing contractual, commercial, and economic terms. We seek written sales and lifting…

— APIKUR (@apikur_oil) February 22, 2025

The association also aligned with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who, during a meeting in Baghdad on Saturday with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, stressed the urgency of resuming oil production and restoring exports through Turkiye’s Ceyhan port.

Iraq’s Oil Ministry said on Saturday it had completed procedures to restart Kurdistan’s oil exports via the Iraq-Turkiye pipeline, in accordance with the Budget Law and Iraq’s OPEC quota. The ministry urged Kurdish authorities to deliver crude from operational fields to SOMO, the state oil marketer, under existing contracts.

Baghdad and Erbil have long been at odds over oil revenue sharing. In 2014, the Kurdistan Region began independently exporting oil via a pipeline to Ceyhan, a move Baghdad denounced as "smuggling" and "robbery."

The Iraqi government later filed a case against Turkiye at the International Court of Arbitration, accusing it of violating a 1973 pipeline agreement by facilitating Kurdish oil exports. While Baghdad insists all exports must go through the state-owned oil company, Kurdish authorities argue that independent sales were necessary to compensate for delayed budget payments from the federal government.

Iraq suspended oil flows through the pipeline in March 2023 following the arbitration court’s ruling in its favor.