Tripartite Agreement Sets Stage For Kurdistan Oil Export Comeback

26 Sep 2025 Issue: 68 / 39 By: Yesar Al-Maleki

Baghdad, Erbil and the IOCs have finally reached an agreement to resume exports through the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline. Officials say flows are expected to resume in the next 48 hours, but this could well be pushed back. The deal remains fragile but is a historic development that would legitimize the export of Kurdish oil under Baghdad’s oversight. As well as enabling exports, the agreement is intended to put an end to the smuggling of Kurdish oil.

Pipeline oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey are set to resume imminently after a two-and-a-half-year halt which has battered the region’s independent oil sector and cost the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) billions of dollars in lost revenues.

The Federal government signed a landmark interim trilateral agreement with the KRG and most of the Region’s IOCs on 25 September to enable the restart of pipeline exports to Turkey’s Ceyhan oil terminal. In a short statement on 25 September, the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) said that it expects flows to begin within 48 hours, and Turkish officials were holding discussions on the restart as MEES went to press. (CONTINUED - 3893 WORDS)