Iraq-Turkey Oil Export Tensions: Current Developments
Turkey has indicated that it has not yet received official notification from Iraq regarding the resumption of oil exports through the Ceyhan port.
In a briefing to reporters in Ankara on Wednesday, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar stated that the country has not been informed about the restart of oil shipments via the Iraqi-Jahan oil pipeline.
In parallel developments, Iraqi Energy Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani revealed on Tuesday that a delegation from the Ministry of Oil, headed by the Deputy Minister for Directors for Directing, Legal and Economics, as well as representatives from the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), is scheduled to visit Erbil to discuss the mechanism for receiving oil from the region.
Adding to this, Kamal Mohammed, the Acting Minister of Natural Resources for the Kurdistan Region, stated on February 17 that the impediments surrounding oil exports from Kurdistan have been alleviated, with a plan for exports to recommence in the upcoming month.
Minister Mohammed emphasized the considerable economic ramifications that resulted from the cessation of oil exports over the past 23 months, noting that both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region incurred losses of less than $1 billion each month during this period. He highlighted that this realization led to the acknowledgment of significant damage caused to both parties, thus resulting in the approval of amendments to the existing agreements.
Miles Kagns, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Oil Industry Association (APCO), previously stated in December that the estimated financial impact of halted Kurdistan oil exports via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline was between $23 billion and $24 billion.
The ongoing dialogue between Turkish and Iraqi officials signals a potential shift towards the resumption of oil exports, which could play a vital role in stabilizing the economies of both the Kurdistan Region and Iraq at large.
