‘Numerous efforts’ underway to resume halted Kurdish oil export, says KRG chief diplomat

“There are numerous discussions and efforts currently to resume the export," said Dizayee.

Kurdistan 24 2023/10/08 11:37

Head of KRG Department of Foreign Relations Safeen Dizayee is pictured during delivering remarks at Kurdish Diplomacy Week symposium in at Salahaddin University-Erbil, Oct. 8, 2023. (Photo: Erbil Governorate)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – There are significant ongoing efforts to resume the Kurdistan Region’s halted export through the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, a top Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) diplomat said on Sunday.

Remarks by Safeen Dizayee, the head of the KRG Department of Foreign Relations, came during the launch of the Kurdish Diplomacy Week symposium held at Salahaddin University-Erbil, where Kurdish diplomats, academics, and students are gathering to discuss topics concerning Kurdistan Region’s diplomatic efforts and ties.

Hailing the Kurdish diplomacy's success in attracting foreign direct investment, particularly in the energy sector, Dizayee said, “There are numerous discussions and efforts currently to resume the [Kurdistan Region oil] export."

The US, the UK, and France are involved in the efforts to resume the export, he said.

The export has been halted since March 25 at the request of Baghdad after Iraq claimed victory against Turkey at the International Chamber of Commerce’s Court of Arbitration for allowing the KRG to independently export its oil.

However, the Turkish energy minister last week announced that the pipeline is ready for export, but the crude flow has yet to restart. A top Iraqi diplomat on Thursday said Ankara had agreed to resume the export.

Baghdad and Anakra are reportedly in discussion over the payment of $1.5 billion the court awarded to Iraq as the result of damages it had suffered.

Turkish officials have also asked Iraqi counterparts to drop the remaining court cases against Ankara on the energy dispute, according to media reports.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Turkey, and Iraq have participated in several rounds of negotiations since then to resume the export, whose loss is estimated to be nearly $6 billion.

Oil companies and a number of countries, including the US and Russia, have previously called for the resumption of oil exports.

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.