The Iraqi oil ministry said foreign oil firms operating in the Kurdistan Region were partly to blame for a delay in restarting crude exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
The pipeline, which once accounted for about 0.5 percent of the global oil supply, has been mired in legal and financial troubles since March 2023.
The Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce ruled that Turkey had violated a 1973 treaty by facilitating exports from the Kurdistan Region without the permission of the Iraqi government, bringing the oil flows to a halt.
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) said the Iraqi government has not “taken the required actions” to reopen the pipeline, stating “there has been no real progress” to reopen it despite meetings in Baghdad in January between representatives of the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and international oil companies.
The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruled the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law was unconstitutional in 2022.
Reports from OPEC and international secondary sources indicated crude production in the Kurdistan Region was between 200,000 to 225,000 barrels per day without the knowledge or approval of the Iraqi oil ministry, according to Reuters.
The oil ministry said in a statement on Sunday that international companies and the Kurdistan Region’s authorities have still not submitted contracts for revision to the ministry.
The Iraqi government is seeking to revise these deals after a court issued a verdict that stated contracts signed with the KRG were invalid, Reuters said.
