Iraq has started exporting crude oil from its Kirkuk oil field to Turkey’s port of Ceyhan after US intervention ended a two-week stalemate between federal authorities and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Exports began in the early hours of 18 March, at an initial rate of 100,000-140,000 b/d that then stabilized at 170,000 b/d.
The development means that Iraq, the second largest Middle East crude oil exporter under normal circumstances, now has a functioning Hormuz-bypass pipeline. While a valuable source of revenues, flows are a fraction of the 3.33mn b/d of crude oil that Iraq exported from Basra in February. (CONTINUED - 1268 WORDS)
