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The Undersecretary of the Iraqi Oil Minister, Basim Mohammed Khudair, stated on Thursday that a Turkish delegation will meet with Iraqi officials in the oil sector in Baghdad on June 19 to discuss the resumption of oil exports from northern Iraq.
Khudair elaborated that the two parties agree that it is necessary to resume oil exports as soon as possible, explaining that Iraq is ready to pump 500,000 barrels per day in case both parties agree on the resumption of oil exports.
Turkey halted exports of 450,000 barrels per day from northern Iraq through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline on March 25 after the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) issued its ruling in an arbitration case.
The ICC obliged Turkey to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in compensation for damages caused by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) export of oil without permission from the federal government in Baghdad between 2014 and 2018.
The 80-day halt of oil exports from the Kurdistan region of Iraq cost the KRG more than $2 billion, Reuters reported.
The crude oil pipeline extends from the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
The KRG began exporting crude oil independently in 2013, a step Baghdad considered illegal.
Attempts to resume oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan were delayed because of the Turkish presidential elections and discussions between the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) and the KRG over an oil export deal.
The Kurdistan region of Iraq suffers from a lack of liquidity due to the suspension of oil exports through the pipeline.
Iraqi politicians and Kurdish lawmakers said that Iraqi Kurdistan had no other choice but to accept 12.67 percent of the $153 billion budget approved by the Iraqi Parliament last Monday.
