ECONOMY
Basem al-Awadi, Iraqi government spokesperson, (right) speaking to Rudaw in Washington on April 16, 2024. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Spokesperson for the Iraqi government on Tuesday said that Baghdad is “optimistic” about the restart of Kurdistan Region’s oil exports more than a year after it was suspended, adding that the resumption of the process is one of the federal government’s priorities.
“Certainly, the issue of oil export by the Kurdistan Region is a priority for the central government,” Basem al-Awadi told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda in Washington.
Awadi, who is accompanying Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani in his first ever trip to the US as premier, added that the Iraqi government is “optimistic” about the resumption of Kurdistan Region’s oil exports to Turkey which was halted in March last year after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying the latter had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
“Resolving the issue of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region is a fundamental issue because it is related to the country’s resources and budget, and the Iraqi government is striving to negotiate with the Kurdistan Region,” the Iraqi spokesperson noted.
US President Joe Biden received Sudani on Monday. They both “affirmed the importance of ensuring Iraqi oil can reach international markets and expressed their desire to reopen the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline,” read a joint statement.
Despite several talks between Kurdish, Iraqi, and Turkish officials, the exports have yet to resume and many international oil companies have suspended production.
Before the halt, around 400,000 barrels a day were being exported by Erbil, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk’s oil.
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), an association of oil producers, announced in a statement on Tuesday that it “remains ready to immediately continue discussions with Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government officials to restore exports through the ITP [Iraq-Turkey pipeline].”
The lack of agreement to restore oil exports “has cost Iraq more than $14.5 billion in lost export revenues,” APIKUR said in a separate statement on Friday.
The international oil companies (IOCs) and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are bound by Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs). Under the Kurdistan Region’s PSC model, the IOCs cover the entire cost of production while the KRG receives the lion’s share of the profits from successful projects.
Baghdad has repeatedly said that the PSCs between the IOCs and the KRG are a violation of the Iraqi constitution, stressing that the contracts need to be amended into service contracts such as the ones in federal Iraq before exports could resume.
“Certainly, the issue of oil export by the Kurdistan Region is a priority for the central government,” Basem al-Awadi told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda in Washington.
Awadi, who is accompanying Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani in his first ever trip to the US as premier, added that the Iraqi government is “optimistic” about the resumption of Kurdistan Region’s oil exports to Turkey which was halted in March last year after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying the latter had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
“Resolving the issue of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region is a fundamental issue because it is related to the country’s resources and budget, and the Iraqi government is striving to negotiate with the Kurdistan Region,” the Iraqi spokesperson noted.
US President Joe Biden received Sudani on Monday. They both “affirmed the importance of ensuring Iraqi oil can reach international markets and expressed their desire to reopen the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline,” read a joint statement.
Despite several talks between Kurdish, Iraqi, and Turkish officials, the exports have yet to resume and many international oil companies have suspended production.
Before the halt, around 400,000 barrels a day were being exported by Erbil, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk’s oil.
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), an association of oil producers, announced in a statement on Tuesday that it “remains ready to immediately continue discussions with Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government officials to restore exports through the ITP [Iraq-Turkey pipeline].”
The lack of agreement to restore oil exports “has cost Iraq more than $14.5 billion in lost export revenues,” APIKUR said in a separate statement on Friday.
The international oil companies (IOCs) and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are bound by Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs). Under the Kurdistan Region’s PSC model, the IOCs cover the entire cost of production while the KRG receives the lion’s share of the profits from successful projects.
Baghdad has repeatedly said that the PSCs between the IOCs and the KRG are a violation of the Iraqi constitution, stressing that the contracts need to be amended into service contracts such as the ones in federal Iraq before exports could resume.
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