Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi says a preliminary agreement has been reached with northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to export crude oil through the autonomous region’s 700,000 b/d pipeline to Turkey. This raises the prospect of an end to the shut-in of 280,000 b/d of Kirkuk crude (MEES, 20 October 2017).
The minister announced the agreement in a 27 February statement. State marketer Somo says it remains in the dark as to the details of any deal but would be ready to market Kirkuk crude cargoes from Ceyhan as soon as it receives allocations. Since federal forces retook several key Kirkuk-region fields in October, volumes shipped through the pipeline have come exclusively from KRG-controlled fields: an average of less than 300,000 b/d compared to 500,000-600,000 b/d earlier in the year. (CONTINUED - 1497 WORDS)
