Two Iraqi oil officials told Reuters that a Turkish energy technical delegation met with Iraqi oil officials in Baghdad Monday to discuss resuming oil exports from northern Iraq.
A spokesman close to the talks, who requested anonymity, said: “We are discussing all the technical aspects related to the resumption of oil exports, but the decision to resume pumping will not be made today, and we need to hold additional meetings.”
Iraq is waiting for a final agreement with Turkey on the resumption of oil exports to Kurdistan
Turkey stopped exports of 450,000 barrels a day from northern Iraq via the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline on March 25 after the International Chamber of Commerce ruled in an arbitration case.
Another oil official indicated that Turkey is ready to negotiate the amount of compensation the Chamber has decided to pay, and is also trying to clarify issues related to other open arbitration cases.
Turkey’s decision to suspend exports follows a ruling in which the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Turkey to pay $1.5 billion to Baghdad in compensation for damages it suffered as a result of exporting KRG oil without government permission in Baghdad between 2014 and 2018.
Another official said: “The decision to resume oil transportation requires negotiations at a higher political level, because the obstacles preventing the resumption of oil exports are more political than technical.”
Attempts to restart the pipeline were put on hold by last month’s Turkish presidential election and discussions between the Iraqi government oil marketing company (SOMO) and the KRG over an export deal that has already been reached.
Hopes for a restart were raised when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed Alp Arslan Bayraktar as Energy Minister in his new five-year government on June 3.
Reuters estimates that KRG lost more than $2 billion due to the 80-day pipeline shutdown, based on exports of 375,000 barrels per day and KRG’s historic decline in Brent oil prices.
The pipeline also transported about 75,000 barrels per day of federal oil from Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields.
