“An agreement was reached and confirmed to resume the export of the Region’s oil according to available quantities. Today, a joint technical team was formed to inspect the oil pipeline and determine its readiness,” the KRG’s team negotiating the matter with Baghdad said in a statement.
On Saturday, Iraq’s oil ministry announced the “completion of procedures” necessary to resume production and exports, urging Kurdish authorities to begin delivering oil to Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) to begin exports via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
In the statement, the KRG confirmed that the agreement was struck after cooperation between the federal oil ministry and the Region’s natural resources ministry, and confirmed Erbil’s “commitment to implementing the provisions of the federal general budget law.”
Earlier in February, the federal budget law was amended, raising compensation paid to oil producers for production and transportation costs, which was a final sticking point to resuming Kurdish oil exports.
But oil producers in the Kurdistan Region on Sunday said they expect written contractual agreements on sales terms “without political interference” before resuming oil exports.
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline were suspended in March 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying the latter had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
Before the suspension, Erbil was exporting approximately 400,000 barrels of oil per day via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, in addition to around 75,000 barrels of oil from Kirkuk.