Kurdistan Region oil production consistent with over 10M bpd exported in March

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) exported over 328,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) during March, according to a statement by the Iraqi Oil Ministry on Friday.

In total, the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports in March were about 10.2 million barrels of oil. The Iraqi Oil Ministry’s statement claimed the KRG had received about $682,726,000 from its oil exports.

There was no comment from representatives of the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) at the time of publishing this report.

The Region’s oil exports were greatly affected following Baghdad’s response to the historic independence referendum held last September where it used military force to regain control of oilfields under the KRG’s administration in the disputed province of Kirkuk.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces had advanced to protect Kirkuk and other disputed regions following the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) and the collapse of the Iraqi army in mid-2014.

Despite an overwhelming majority voting for secession from Iraq, the central government in Baghdad responded by imposing several punitive measures on the Kurdistan Region, including an international flight ban and the Oct. 16 attack on Peshmerga in Kirkuk.

The KRG has not had access to the oilfields in Kirkuk since Iraqi forces, and Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias advanced to regain control of the oil-rich city.

According to Iraqi Oil Ministry statistics, the five fields in the disputed province—Baba Gurgur, Havana, Bai Hassan, Jambu, and Khabbaz—have a total output of approximately 470,000 bpd.

In February, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Baghdad had reached an agreement with authorities in the Kurdistan Region to resume the export of oil from Kirkuk Province. No such agreement, however, was confirmed by KRG officials.