Economic Update – Baghdad
Economic analyst Hevidar Shaaban has disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government will convene two critical meetings in the coming days with representatives from oil companies operating in the region.
According to Shaaban, the first meeting is scheduled to take place in Baghdad this week, followed by a second meeting in Erbil next week. The objective of these discussions is to address the challenges related to the resumption of oil exports via the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
He further indicated that the current difficulties in exporting oil are not solely the responsibility of either the federal government or the regional authority; rather, the oil companies are hesitant to proceed with exports unless the Kurdistan Regional Government settles its outstanding debts.
Key issues hindering the resumption of oil exports include the methodology for calculating oil quantities, payment processes, and determining the shares of international firms that extract oil from the Kurdistan region. Delegations from both parties are actively seeking to resolve these matters prior to resuming export operations.
In February, Oil Minister Hayyan Abdel-Ghani made an announcement about the potential resumption of exports from Kurdistan, a development that could help resolve a two-year dispute which had disrupted the flow of over 300,000 barrels of oil per day into global markets via Turkey.
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