SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — Efforts to resume oil exports from the Kurdistan Region, which have been halted since March 2023, continue without a definitive resolution. On Wednesday, the Iraqi Parliamentary Oil and Energy Committee held a meeting with the Iraqi Oil Ministry and the State Organization for Marketing Oil (SOMO) to discuss the resumption of exports and address key points of contention between Baghdad, Erbil, and international oil companies.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from the Iraqi Oil Ministry, including Deputy Minister of Oil, and aimed to resolve the ongoing obstacles preventing the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region. However, following the discussions, conflicting statements emerged regarding the progress made.
Haibat al-Halbousi, head of the Iraqi Parliament’s Oil and Energy Committee, told reporters that Oil Ministry officials had informed him during the meeting that oil exports from the Kurdistan Region would resume next week via Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) to Ceyhan port. However, this optimistic outlook was met with skepticism from other committee members.
Rebwar Abdulrahman, a member of the committee, expressed disappointment over the lack of significant progress on the issue. He highlighted that out of the 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) allocated for exports, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) requires 115,000 bpd for domestic consumption and to fulfill obligations to international oil companies.
Abdulrahman further revealed that the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) member companies, which are involved in the Region’s oil production, do not accept the consulting company’s assessment of oil production costs. He noted that these companies had informed Baghdad that the company’s role should be limited to observing the process, not determining costs.
Omed Mohammed, a member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Legal Committee, added that the KRG had sought assurances from Baghdad for salary payments, to which Baghdad had agreed. However, Baghdad conditioned this agreement on the KRG sending 185,000 barrels of oil per day. As of now, the KRG has not responded to this request.
Despite these efforts to reach a resolution, Haibat al-Halbousi confirmed that discussions would continue, with the aim of addressing the outstanding issues related to the restart of oil exports. He also revealed that a KRG delegation is expected to visit Baghdad.
Myles Caggins, spokesperson for APIKUR, said that more meetings and agreements were needed before oil exports can resume.
However, despite these ongoing efforts, the contentious issues surrounding the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region remain unresolved, with no significant progress made thus far.