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  • 03-04-23

    Iraqi Kurdistan to Resume Oil Exports Through Turkey, But Under Federal Government Supervision

    (MENAFN) Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region will resume oil exports through Turkey on Monday, but the federal government in Baghdad will supervise them in the future, according to officials from both sides. The outcome, negotiated in talks between federal and regional officials, marks the end of independent oil exports by the Kurdish regional government and represents a clear limit to its autonomy. Ankara had stopped handling Iraqi Kurdish oil last month after an international tribunal ruled that Baghdad had the right to oversee all Iraqi oil exports.

    A federal government official told AFP on Saturday that "sales of Kurdistan crude will be managed from now on by the State Oil Marketing Organization." A "joint committee" consisting of federal and regional government representatives will supervise the export process. Revenues from the oil sales will be paid into an account "overseen by Baghdad," according to a Kurdish official.

    The halt to exports through a pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan had left foreign oil firms with nowhere to pump Kurdish oil. Norway's DNO, one of the main firms operating in Iraqi Kurdistan, announced it was halting production at its wells. Prior to Ankara's action on March 25, the autonomous region was exporting approximately 450,000 barrels per day of crude.

    Oil exports are the key revenue source for both the federal and regional governments, and their management has long been a sensitive topic in relations. The Kurdistan government sees Baghdad as trying to profit from the region's resources, while the Iraqi government argues that it should have sovereign control over all of the country's oil production.

    Iraq is the second-largest producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, exporting an average of 3.3 million bpd. The resumption of oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan through Turkey under federal government supervision will have significant implications for the country's oil industry and political relations between the autonomous region and the federal government.

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