Erbil And Baghdad Reach Export Deal, Will IOCs Sign Up?

18 Jul 2025 Issue: 68 / 29 By: Yesar Al-Maleki

Iraq’s Federal and Kurdistan governments have reached a written agreement to restart exports to Turkey’s Ceyhan. But the deal could yet unravel as it does not resolve crucial disagreements over contracts with IOCs operating Kurdish oilfields.

The central Iraqi government and semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reached an agreement to resume oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) on 17 July, which has been closed since March 2023. The deal, which followed intensive talks between the two sides in recent days, was approved in an emergency session by Iraq’s cabinet.

Under the terms of the deal, the KRG’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) will hand over a minimum of 230,000 b/d of Kurdish output for export at Ceyhan, retaining 50,000 b/d for domestic consumption in Kurdistan’s refineries. The KRG has put recent output levels at 280,000 b/d, which is equal to the volume agreed. MEES estimates that output is slightly lower (see chart). (CONTINUED - 1107 WORDS)