Kurdish Delegation in Baghdad to Resolve Oil Export Crisis

A delegation from the Kurdistan Regional Government and oil companies arrived in Baghdad this evening, Saturday, for an official visit, invited by the Federal Ministry of Oil, to discuss the resumption of oil exports from the region following an agreement between the two parties. On May 28, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil stated in a statement that it calls for an "urgent" meeting with the Kurdish Ministry of Energy and international companies operating in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to make efforts towards an agreement for the resumption of oil exports via the Turkish port of Ceyhan. Oil exports through the pipeline between Iraq and Turkey— which transported about 0.5 percent of global oil supplies— have been halted due to legal and financial obstacles since March 2023, and talks to resume exports were stopped. The sharing of oil revenues between the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been a source of tension between the two sides. Oil flow through the pipeline ceased after the International Chamber of Commerce, based in Paris, ruled that Turkey violated the terms of the 1973 agreement by facilitating oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq without the consent of the Iraqi government in Baghdad.