KRG Oil Delegation to Visit Baghdad for Final Export Deal Talks

[HowieC]

KRG Oil Delegation to Visit Baghdad for Final Export Deal Talks

 

Economy 28/08/2025 - 16:16 BasNews

 

ERBIL — A senior delegation from the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Natural Resources and representatives of international oil companies will travel to Baghdad on Sept. 2 for talks with Iraq’s Ministry of Oil and the state oil marketer SOMO to finalize an agreement on restarting oil exports to Turkey’s Ceyhan port, officials said.

Sabah Subhi, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Oil and Gas Committee, told Kurdistan 24 that the meeting aims to secure a written deal, as some companies have refused to resume exports without formal guarantees. Subhi said production levels in the Kurdistan Region are now rising and that an Iraqi delegation’s visit to Ceyhan last week completed the necessary technical procedures, paving the way for exports to resume.

The high-stakes meeting follows more than two years of halted exports through the Iraq–Turkey pipeline. Oil flows stopped in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ruled in favor of Baghdad in an arbitration case against Turkey, affirming the federal government’s sole authority over exports. The ruling forced Ankara to halt Kurdish crude shipments, depriving the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of its main source of revenue and intensifying a financial crisis that has left it struggling to pay public sector salaries.

The dispute traces back to 2013, when the KRG began independently exporting crude through its pipeline to Ceyhan, bypassing Baghdad’s State Oil Marketing Organization. The federal government responded with legal action, arguing Turkey’s role violated the 1973 Iraq–Turkey Pipeline Agreement. The ICC ruling in 2023 strengthened Baghdad’s position, leaving Erbil reliant on federal approval for future sales.

Since then, multiple rounds of talks have been held, with the 2023–2025 federal budgets requiring the KRG to deliver oil to SOMO in return for its share of federal funding. Disagreements over implementation have delayed progress, but economic pressures and rising Kurdish production have added urgency.

Iraq’s oil minister recently said exports could restart at an initial rate of 80,000 barrels per day, though international oil companies remain cautious, citing unresolved concerns over payment guarantees and legal frameworks.

With technical groundwork at Ceyhan already completed and both sides under pressure to secure revenues, the Sept. 2 talks in Baghdad are viewed as a critical moment to break the deadlock and revive oil exports that are vital to both Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

basnews.com

 

[ametad]

Ceyhan could see oil flowing again. This has positive potential in the global oil industry. In the midst of this shift the Kurds have secured their private security force with the Americans moving North at a time when USA is supposed to be withdrawing troops. Washington DC is the New Baghdad, under Marshal Law with a “Green Zone” and all. CRAZY TIMES 

[horsesoldier]

Finalizing/Signing off on the how much & who the real BIG winners are of the "gets their piece of action" agreement.

The REAL BIG winners ? The Military Industrial Complex. 

I am forever troubled, angry & terribly saddened by the sacrifices of our military men and women who gave it their all so the Complex could enrich itself at the horrible cost of our military.

Many of my Army brothers are dead & dying from illness directly attributed to "something" the Pentagon refused to acknowledge for a decade!!!!!

The war chest full, time to toss away the troops until it's time to trot out the next war...

Guess I'd best stop here...