Iraq, Kurdistan Region in talks to resume oil exports, says Iraqi Oil Minister

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani on Wednesday told Kurdistan24 that they are currently engaged in talks with the Kurdistan Region regarding the exportation of oil.

The Iraqi Oil Minister also stated that oil production in the Kurdistan Region ranges from 375,000 to 400,000 barrels per day, as per the Iraqi budget.

" We will resume production and export of oil from the fields in the Kurdistan Region," Ghani noted and added, " The Ministry of Electricity has recently signed a contract with a gas investment company operating in one of the fields located in the Kurdistan Region. The purpose of this agreement is to facilitate the transportation of 100 million cubic feet of natural gas.”

After a year of suspending oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, Iraq has incurred a loss of $11 billion in revenue and $400 million in investments by APIKUR member companies.

Despite the readiness of the Turkish and Kurdistan Regional Governments, Iraq is still not ready to resume oil exports. Also, APIKUR announced that oil exports should resume as soon as possible, and what they have agreed upon should remain unchanged.