KRG, IOCs to meet with Iraqi authorities Sunday: Minister

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Representatives from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) will hold a meeting with the federal authorities in Baghdad on Sunday, the Kurdish oil natural resources minister said on Thursday. 

Kamal Mohammed, acting minister of KRG's natural resources ministry, was cited by the ministry as saying that the three sides will meet in Baghdad on Sunday to discuss the resumption of Kurdistan Region's oil exports which have been halted since March last year. 

"The exportation of the Region's oil will be resumed soon," said the minister. 

Last week, the federal oil ministry invited the KRG’s natural resources ministry and the IOCs for an urgent meeting to reach an agreement on the resumption of exports.

Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been halted since March 2023 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. 

Despite several talks between Kurdish, Iraqi, and Turkish officials, the exports have yet to resume, and many international oil companies have suspended production.