SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has reiterated its readiness to resume oil exports, according to a statement from the office of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
The statement was released after a high-level delegation from the Iraqi Oil Ministry, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil Hayyan Abdul Ghani, met with KRG officials in Erbil on Sunday.
The talks, which also involved directors general of the ministry and the director general of State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), revolved around measures and steps to resume oil exports.
The talks come nearly eight months after exports were halted due to an arbitration court ruling favoring Iraq against Turkey.
“We reiterated that the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports have cost the national treasury billions of dollars, and we called for their resumption as soon as possible,” the statement read.
The KRG has instructed the Ministry of Natural Resources to coordinate with the team of the Federal Ministry of Oil. The Iraqi delegation is expected to stay in Erbil for several days to continue talks on the ongoing issues.
On behalf of the Iraqi Prime Minister and the Federal Government, the Minister of Federal Oil expressed the desire of the Federal Government to start exporting oil from the Kurdistan Region.
“We decided that the two ministries will continue to discuss and exchange on legal, financial and technical details in order to present solutions with a common understanding in order to resume oil exports as soon as possible,” the statement added.
