Kurdistan Region oil export resumption to be 'piloted', says SOMO source

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region's oil export is expected to be resumed as a test through the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline "soon", an Iraqi State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) source told Kurdistan 24.

An Iraqi, Turkish, and Kurdistan Region delegation have recently visited the pipeline in Turkey in order to closely follow up on the resumption efforts following its 6-month-long halt, according to the SOMO source who wished to stay on the condition of anonymity due to media restrictions. 

The source did not give a definitive date for the resumption of the oil flow. 

The export was halted on March 25 at the request of Baghdad after Iraq claimed victory against Turkey at the International Arbitration Court in Paris, which awarded the Iraqi side $1.4 billion in compensation. 

Turkish, Iraqi, and Kurdistan Region officials have since been in negotiations to resume the oil flow, on which the Kurdish region’s economy had heavily dependent to function economically. The efforts have not resulted in resumption yet despite intensive talks. 

The halted export has resulted in a nearly $6 billion loss since late March, according to the KRG. 

Prior to the halt, the Kurdish region was independently exporting 450,000 barrels of oil per day through the pipeline, which was also sending another 100,000 barrels of Iraqi oil from Kirkuk Province.

In order for the Kurdistan Region to receive a 12.6 percent share of Iraq’s budget annually, it has to sell 400,000 barrels of oil per day via SOMO, per the country’s budget law.