Kurdistan’s oil exports continue to halt as Turkey seeks negotiation
A worker walks down the stairs of an oil tank at Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Oil exports from northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan are still suspended nearly three weeks after an international arbitration panel obliged Turkey to compensate Iraq for oil exports pumped through Turkey without the Iraqi government’s approval.
The ruling issued by the International Chamber of Commerce on March 23 obligated Turkey to pay 1.5 billion USD to Iraq for oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan through Ceyhan port between 2014 and 2018 without Baghdad’s approval.
In response, Turkey halted the flow of 450 thousand barrels per day of oil exports.
Sources said that Turkey wanted to negotiate compensation as well as resolve a second arbitration case related to flows from 2018 until oil pumping stopped.
A source said last Friday that the pipeline operators have not received any instructions so far regarding the resumption of pumping, Reuters reported.
Two other sources stated that Baghdad has not yet asked Turkey to resume pumping oil.
Another source said that Turkey is seeking to hold direct negotiations on compensation amounting to 1.5 billion USD, which was ruled to be paid to Iraq.
The State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), in cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), is waiting for the completion of some technical issues necessary to resume flows.
The federal government in Baghdad signed a temporary agreement with the KRG on April 4, hoping to resume oil pumping.