Iraq’s Oil Minister announced the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Ministry of Oil.

Hayyan Abdul-Ghani, Iraq’s Oil Minister, told Iraq’s official news agency that on September 25, a tripartite agreement was signed between the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources, and the companies operating in the Region’s oil fields. Under the deal, between 180,000 and 190,000 barrels per day of the Kurdistan Region’s oil will be handed over to the Ministry of Oil, with an additional 50,000 barrels per day allocated for use in the Region’s domestic refineries.

The federal minister told Iraqi media:

“We had anticipated reaching an agreement with the Kurdistan Region to resume exports, and today, with the pumping of crude oil toward the collection point near Fishkhabur on the Iraq–Turkey border, this expectation has become reality.”

The minister explained that crude oil will continue to flow through the Iraq–Turkey pipeline to the port of Ceyhan. He stressed that technical coordination between the Oil Ministry, North Oil Company, and SOMO (Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization) is underway to raise storage levels at the Ceyhan terminal.

He further noted:

“After determining the required volume for export, tankers contracted under the agreement will load the crude. This fulfills the long-standing demand for the Ministry of Oil to take over and export the Kurdistan Region’s oil, which will now be marketed exclusively through SOMO.”

According to the minister, 180,000–190,000 barrels per day from the Kurdistan Region will be exported. With oil currently priced at $65 per barrel, producing companies will receive $16 per barrel, in line with the first article of Iraq’s Federal Budget Law. All operating companies have signed onto this arrangement, making them bound by it.

Exports from the Kurdistan Region to Turkey’s Ceyhan port had been halted since March 25, 2023.

The suspension followed a ruling by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration court, which upheld Iraq’s complaint against Turkey for allowing Kurdistan’s independent oil exports through the pipeline without Baghdad’s consent. This ruling effectively collapsed the Kurdistan Region’s “independent oil economy,” which had provided nearly 80% of the KRG’s revenues.

Since then, the KRG has been compelled, under Iraq’s Federal Budget Law, to transfer all oil sales and revenues to Baghdad, in return for receiving its share of the national budget. The resumption of exports announced today represents the implementation of that legal framework.