Iraq has resumed a portion of its oil exports on Wednesday, shipping 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) via pipeline to a Turkish port, following an agreement with the authorities in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The move comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, triggered by the U.S.-Israeli offensive against Iran on February 28. Prior to the conflict, Iraq, a founding member of OPEC, had halted all exports – typically around 3.5 million bpd – as authorities sought alternatives to the increasingly challenging Strait of Hormuz.
According to a statement released by the state-owned oil company managing northern Iraqi oil fields, “operations began at the Sarlo pumping station, for a resumption of pumping and export operations of Kirkuk oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, with an initial export capacity of 250,000 bpd.”
The restart follows “a period of interruption that represented a major challenge for the oil sector” and was made possible through “an agreement between the federal government and the government of the Kurdistan region,” the company stated.
Iraq’s Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed the resumption of operations at 06:30 local time (03:30 GMT) to export oil “via the Kurdistan pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.”
In recent days, Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government had been in dispute over the resumption of these exports, with Baghdad insisting on utilizing a pipeline connecting Kurdish territories to the port of Ceyhan.
Kurdish authorities initially set several preconditions before ultimately reaching an agreement. The resumption of oil flows provides a much-needed boost to Iraq’s economy, which relies heavily on oil revenue and signals a potential easing of tensions between Baghdad and Erbil.
