No changes to Erbil-Baghdad oil export deal: Senior Iraqi official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - No changes have been made to the existing oil export agreement between Baghdad, Erbil, and international oil companies (IOCs), with all sides agreeing to maintain the current terms and extend the deal for an additional three months, deputy head of the federal oil marketing body told Rudaw on Saturday.

The remarks by Hamdi Shingali, deputy head of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), come after SOMO Director Ali Nazar al-Shatri told Rudaw on Thursday that the three sides have agreed to extend the existing agreement for an additional three months.

Kurdistan Region’s oil exports were suspended in March 2023 following a ruling by an arbitration court in Paris. The exports resumed late September following the tripartite agreement.

Shingali, a Kurd, said average daily exports from the Kurdistan Region stand at around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), while 50,000 bpd are reserved for domestic consumption. He added that “production is headed towards increasing… bit by bit.”

Under the agreement, the KRG’s natural resources ministry is committed to supplying at least 230,000 bpd to SOMO for export, with an additional 50,000 bpd allocated for domestic use within the Kurdistan Region, Natural Resources Minister Kamal Mohammed told Rudaw in mid-November.

Mohammed said that by November, more than 10 million barrels of Kurdistan Region oil had been exported through the federal government. He also noted that the Iraq-Turkey pipeline has a total export capacity of 750,000 bpd, adding that prior to the 2023 suspension, Kurdistan Region exports ranged between 400,000 and 420,000 bpd.

According to Shingali, around 13.5 million barrels of oil from the Kurdistan Region have been sold so far, generating an estimated $750 million in revenue. He said the Region’s oil exports are being shipped to European and American continents, with both Iraqi and Kurdish crude being sold at an average price of around $60 per barrel.

Commenting on crude quality, Shingali said that Kurdistan Region oil “used to be better” with an American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity rating of 29. “It [the rating] is lower now,” he said, explaining that producers previously added certain compounds that are no longer used. He said the oil’s current quality stands at around 27 API.

Shingali also said that Kirkuk “currently has no oil for export.”

Regarding overall national production, he stated that Iraq currently exports around 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd), excluding the Kurdistan Region's output, while the country’s OPEC quota is approximately 3.6 million bpd.


Sangar Abdulrahman contributed to this article from Erbil.