APIKUR values Geoffrey R. Pyatt’s visit as important, necessary

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Myles B. Caggins III, spokesperson of the APIKUR, in a statement welcomes the visit of Geoffrey R. Pyatt, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources to Iraq and Kurdistan region as a strong and necessary gesture in order the Iraqi officials and Kurdistan region “to start to achieve their goals which they have set before and restoring the oil exports via the Iraq-Turkey oil”.

Yesterday, May 15, 2024, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Energy Resources had a meeting with Mohammad Shia Soudani, the Iraqi prime minister, and it is decided that today, 16/05/2024, to visit Erbil to meet up with Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan region.

Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) states the officials meetings with the both of the Prime Ministers Masrour Barzani and Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, “are extending of the discussions that have been in Washington and the Munich Security Conference”.

According to APIKUR’s statement, they have noticed that producing and oil exports are underused in the Kurdistan region, “while it can assist Iraq and the oil ministry so as to obtain its goals immediately in oil exports areas”.

According to Myles Caggins’ statement “APIKUR’s member companies underscore, ready to restoring the oil exports, and that happens with an agreement to assure the past and future payments. In addition to that our economical trading agreement terms are protected. Thus, restoring the oil exports will be beneficial to all Iraqi nationals and the shareholders”.

Per the APIKUR’s spokesperson’s statement, the visit of Geoffrey Pyatt to Erbil the capital city and Baghdad, “the significance of the immediate restoring and cooperative among the relevant parties and shareholders to start restoring the oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline”.

The other part of the announcement emphasizes that “APIKUR’s member companies are keen to resolve this this immobile situation happened as a result of the restoring the oil exports and welcome any official invitation to the participants in the process”.

For further details, since March 25, oil exports from the Kurdistan region have been halted through the Turkish Ceyhan port, per a Paris court order. The oil pipeline that connects the Kurdistan region to Turkey can export 1.4 million barrels of oil. However, so far, this volume has not been exported. Before the halt, only 450 thousand barrels of oil had been exported.

Many time the Turkish foreign ministry announced the pipeline doesn’t have any issues and since 04 of the last October is ready, moreover Turkey has given consent to oil exports and the pipelines are ready, The Iraqi government is not yet prepared to resume exporting oil from the Kurdistan region through the Turkish Ceyhan port. In the meantime, significant damage has occurred to Iraq, the Kurdistan region, and the international oil companies after one year of suspending oil exports.

After suspending oil exports through Iraq-Turkey pipeline for almost 14 months, Iraq's revenue has suffered damages amounting to more than $14.5 billion. This is due to Iraq's non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the agreement, resulting in a daily charge of $800,000.

It is for that reason, more than $400.000.000 APIKUR investment halted, a rate of 60% of the annual income of the oil companies declined, hundreds of people are jobless. 

Due to the suspension of 450 thousand oil barrels in daily exports, oil prices have increased. However, energy experts emphasize that suspending oil exports damages Iraq's reputation, hampers investment intentions, and leads to a decline in trade within the country.