Iraqi Oil Minister: Oil exports can begin in three days

Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani announced that he hopes to reach an agreement with the Kurdish Regional Government and foreign oil companies to restart oil production from the Kurdish Regional Government’s oil fields within three days.

During his weekend visit to Erbil, capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government, Abdel Ghani said yesterday that he had reached an “agreement” with Turkey on the resumption of oil exports from northern Iraq to Turkey.

AN AGREEMENT CAN BE REACHED WITHIN THREE DAYS

Abdel Ghani and senior federal oil officials yesterday began talks with the Iraqi Kurdish regional government’s natural resources ministry and senior Kurdish energy officials to discuss the issue.

The goal of this meeting is to “resolve all problems for the resumption of oil production and exports,” Abdel-Ghani told reporters in Erbil.

“The first step is to reach an agreement with the region (KRG) and companies to align existing contracts with the Iraqi Constitution,” Abdel-Ghani said. “We can reach an agreement in three days,” he said.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Turkey to pay $1.5 billion in compensation to the Iraqi government for unauthorized oil exports made directly by the Kurdish Regional Government to Turkey between 2014 and 2018.

Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said last month that the pipeline was ready for operation, but two senior Iraqi oil officials stated that Iraq had not received official notification from Turkey about whether the pipeline was ready. (REUTERS)