Iraq’s KRG oil to be routed via southern Turkish port

BAGHDAD

Oil from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will be consigned to the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) and subsequently exported via the Ceyhan Port in Türkiye’s south, Baghdad’s oil minister has announced.

"As the oil ministry, we have initiated procedural formalities by dispatching an official communique to the regional government, mandating the appropriate transfer of KRG oil to SOMO,” Hayan Abdel-Ghani said, speaking to the official Iraqi news agency INA.

He underscored that the central government possesses the requisite authority to ensure the exportation of petroleum products from the KRG through SOMO.

Furthermore, he elucidated that procedural engagements with Türkiye concerning the export of crude via the Ceyhan Port in the southern province of Adana are actively underway.

Abdel-Ghani specified that the KRG will relinquish 300,000 barrels per day to the central administration, which, in turn, will be exported under SOMO’s aegis via Ceyhan.

The Iraqi minister also alluded to ongoing deliberations between Baghdad and Erbil aimed at reaching a consensus on the KRG’s outstanding petroleum debt to the federal government.

Iraq’s parliament had previously ratified amendments to the national budget law, which stipulate that the extraction and transportation costs per barrel of oil from the KRG be set at $16.

The Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline that once handled about 0.5 percent of global oil supplies has been stuck in limbo for more than a year after its closure, as legal and financial hurdles impede the resumption of flows from the region.

Flows through the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline were halted following an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion over what it said were unauthorized exports by the KRG between 2014 and 2018.

Türkiye, on the other hand, said the ICC had recognized most of Ankara's demands and ordered Iraq to compensate it for several violations concerning the case.