Baghdad accuses KRG of blocking oil exports, urges resumption

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s oil ministry warned Tuesday that attempts to block exports through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline pose a “major risk” to the country’s interests, accusing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of issuing “a purely political statement driven by partisan positions.”

In a statement released early Tuesday, the federal ministry said the KRG’s natural resources ministry has made remarks that “do not represent a professional or legal perspective regarding operations in the oil sector,” stressing that Baghdad is working to resume pipeline operations in the coming days.

Baghdad earlier accused Erbil of refusing a request 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 KRG’s natural resources ministry on Sunday dismissed Baghdad’s claims, accusing the federal oil ministry of “distorting facts” regarding the export of oil through the Region’s pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.

The federal ministry on Tuesday 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.

With Iraq’s oil exports largely halted since Iran effectively closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Baghdad is scrambling to find alternative routes to export its crude, which accounts for around 90 percent of the country’s revenues.

As a temporary step, the ministry said it had requested the use of the pipeline linking the Sarlo station in Kirkuk to the Fishkhabur station toward Turkey’s Ceyhan port to export up to 250,000 barrels per day, rising to about 450,000 barrels per day when including fields in the Kurdistan Region.

The KRG maintains that Baghdad is enforcing a “suffocating embargo” on the Region by restricting access to official-rate US dollars for traders and has failed to “confront” attacks by Iran-aligned armed groups targeting the Region’s energy infrastructure.

Baghdad on Tuesday urged the KRG to withdraw what it described as efforts to block exports.

“We call upon the Erbil government to retract its position of blocking exports. In the event of a refusal, the Federal Government will take all legal measures,” the ministry said.

The dispute comes as Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani said Monday that Iraq plans to begin exporting oil directly from Kirkuk to Turkey within a week through the Baiji-Fishkhabur pipeline, which can carry up to one million barrels per day but has been largely out of service since it was damaged during the Islamic State (ISIS) offensive in 2014.

Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region have largely 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.