Kurdistan Oil Export Resumption Still A Distant Prospect

24 Nov 2023 Issue: 66 / 47 By: Jamie Ingram

Despite continued public commitments to restarting the Iraq-Turkey crude oil export pipeline, a resumption this year is unlikely. There are signs of a potential Baghdad compromise on commercial terms for IOCs but positions remain far apart.

The shut-in of around 500,000 b/d of northern Iraqi crude oil exports is set to extend into 2024, as disputing parties remain far apart on key commercial terms. Exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and the Federally-operated Kirkuk field through Turkey have been halted since late March (MEES, 31 March), and a resumption appears far-off despite all sides professing a desire to restart flows.

Federal Iraq has wrested control of oil exports from Kurdistan (once they restart), but it is struggling in its bid to exert control over production. Baghdad’s insistence that upstream producers sign new contracts with less attractive terms than their existing Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) has been fiercely resisted both by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the IOCs themselves. Despite the Federal Government holding separate talks with IOCs and the KRG in recent weeks, positions remain far apart (MEES, 17 November). (CONTINUED - 864 WORDS)