PM Barzani: we will not export more oil than agreement allows
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani promised that the Erbil would keep its oil exports limited to the amount agreed with the central government in Baghdad.
“There is an agreement with the central government, but they think we will have to export more than what we do currently,” Barzani said at a meeting with his Cabinet.
“We have clearly told them that, even if we are capable of exporting more, we will not do so, since we are committed to the agreement,” he added. “Technically, our infrastructure is not suitable for exporting additional oil,” he explained.
Exporters around the globe have been hit hard by a plunge in the price of crude. There are fears that producers with excess capacity could ramp up production in order to make up for lost revenues.
After years of bitter disputes, Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reached an interim agreement in early December to export 300,000 bpd of oil from Kirkuk and 250,000 bpd from Kurdistan through the Kurdish pipeline network that runs to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.