A restart of Iraq’s Kurdish oil exports via Turkey’s Ceyhan pipeline is not imminent, four industry sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday, even though Iraq’s oil minister was quoted saying he expected a resumption shortly.
The minister, Hayan Abdel-Ghani, said on Wednesday that oil exports through the Ceyhan pipeline would resume later on Wednesday or Thursday after a two-year hiatus, Iraqi state news agency INA reported.
The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has been offline since 2023, after an arbitration court ruled that Turkey should pay $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized exports between 2014 and 2018. Turkey is appealing the ruling.
Abdel-Ghani said an agreement had been concluded with the Kurdistan Regional Government to resume the oil exports via the pipeline.
INA quoted the minister saying that “80,000 barrels per day will be exported via Turkey’s Ceyhan pipeline through SOMO,” referring to Iraq’s state-owned oil marketer.
The pipeline was transporting around 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iraqi oil, including 370,000 bpd of KRG crude.
The four industry sources said there is no deal yet between Baghdad and the international oil companies operating in the Kurdistan region.
The northern semi-autonomous region of Iraq has sought to export its own oil, while Baghdad maintains that all Iraqi oil should be managed centrally through SOMO.
Baghdad and the KRG reached an agreement to reopen the pipeline last month. The remaining hurdle is the producers. Oil companies operating in Iraq have been pushing to be paid the money they lost due to the pipeline shutdown.
These talks are progressing, but there is no deal yet, two of the sources said.
The pipeline runs from Kirkuk in northern Iraq to Ceyhan in southern Turkey.