Iraq’s Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani has reported progress in talks with officials from the Kurdistan region and representatives of international companies operating there. The discussions aim to reach a deal to resume oil exports via a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Abdel-Ghani stated in an interview with the state-owned Iraqiya TV on Sunday that he expects an understanding to be reached in a few days. The Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline, which once handled about 0.5% of global oil supplies, has been inactive for more than a year due to legal and financial hurdles.
The meeting in Baghdad, attended by Iraq’s oil minister and officials from the Kurdistan region’s ministry of natural resources, comes after the Iraqi oil ministry’s call last month for Kurdish authorities and international energy companies to discuss restarting the exports.
A senior oil ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the talks are focusing on issues that have prevented the resumption of oil exports, such as the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) production-sharing energy contracts, which Baghdad wants to amend, and the oil production costs claimed by the foreign oil companies.
Iraq had previously blamed the foreign companies and the Iraqi Kurdish authorities for the delay in restarting crude exports, as they had not submitted their contracts to the federal oil ministry for revisions.
It is not yet clear if the Kurdish delegates and the foreign firms have agreed to provide their contracts to the oil ministry during the latest meeting.