Turkey has suspended flows of around 500,000 b/d of crude oil from northern Iraq to its export terminal at Ceyhan following a long-awaited ruling by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on the case filed by Iraq in 2014 against Turkey for facilitating Iraqi Kurdistan’s independent oil exports. Turkey’s swift reaction has taken almost everybody by surprise, and has derailed Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani’s attempts to reach a political settlement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Two rounds of talks between Baghdad and Erbil since flows were halted on 25 March have failed to bring about an agreement. MEES understands talks will not resume until after the weekend, meaning that the pipeline closure will stretch into a second week at least. (CONTINUED - 2245 WORDS)