ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Erbil and Baghdad have reached a key agreement to resume Iraqi oil exports via the Kurdistan Region's pipeline to Turkey, a Kurdish lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament told Rudaw on Tuesday.
This comes as Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani noted that Erbil’s approval of Baghdad’s request came in light of “extraordinary circumstances,” while Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani told Rudaw that the agreement will take effect Wednesday morning.
Sherwan Dubardani, a member of parliament representing the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told Rudaw’s Baghdad correspondent Halkawt Aziz that the two sides have finalized a deal aimed at resuming exports.
"Erbil and Baghdad have reached an agreement on oil exports, and the implementation of the deal will begin tomorrow. In the first phase, the available volumes of oil from both the Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk fields will be exported together," Dubardani said.
Shortly after, Prime Minister Barzani attributed the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) approval to facilitate oil exports through the pipeline to the ongoing challenges posed ahead of the country.
In a post on X, the Kurdish premier stated that “in light of the extraordinary circumstances facing the country and the responsibility that falls upon all of us to work toward overcoming this difficult situation, we have decided to allow oil to flow through the Kurdistan Region pipeline as soon as possible.”
"At the same time, our discussions with the federal government will continue to urgently lift the restrictions placed on imports and commercial movement in the Kurdistan Region, and to provide guarantees for oil and gas companies so they can safely resume production," Prime Minister Barzani added.
He further thanked the United States for its role in the process. "I express my gratitude and appreciation to our American partners for their role and support in this process."
Meanwhile, Iraqi Oil Minister, Abdul Ghani, confirmed to Rudaw that the “agreement was reached today [between Erbil and Baghdad] to resume exports through the Kurdistan Region’s pipeline tomorrow [Wednesday] at 10:00 am [local time].”
The agreement comes shortly after Iraq’s oil ministry warned on Tuesday that blocking oil exports through the key pipeline posed a “major risk” to the country’s interests.
Baghdad last week made an official request to Erbil to export up to 300,000 barrels of oil per day through the pipeline, in addition to roughly 200,000 barrels produced in the Kurdistan Region.
The ministry said such exports could help “alleviate the severity of the crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz” amid escalating regional tensions following the US and Israeli military campaign against Iran.
The Iraqi request came as Baghdad’s exports have largely been halted since Iran effectively closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Since then, the federal government has been scrambling to find alternative routes to export its crude, which accounts for around 90 percent of the country’s revenues.
The KRG’s approval comes despite previously criticizing Baghdad for enforcing a “suffocating embargo” on the Region by restricting access to official-rate US dollars for traders and failing to “confront” attacks by Iran-aligned armed groups targeting the Region’s energy infrastructure.
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region have largely been halted following repeated drone and missile attacks on energy infrastructure. The strikes have been blamed on pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq, which say the attacks are linked to Tehran’s confrontation with Washington and Tel Aviv.
Last updated at 10:37 pm.
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