After a trial pumping, Kirkuk is ready to resume oil exports to Ceyhan, Turkey.

After a trial pumping, Kirkuk is ready to resume oil exports to Ceyhan, Turkey.

2025-03-16 09:40

Shafaq News/ Sources in Iraq’s North Oil Company revealed on Sunday that Kirkuk is ready to resume crude oil exports via the Turkish port of Ceyhan at an initial rate of up to 100,000 barrels per day, confirming that a “trial” pumping operation is underway to prepare for this.

A source told Shafaq News Agency, “The Director General of the North Oil Company, Amer Khalil Ahmed, participated in the meetings of the Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, with the Turkish Minister of Energy, Alparslan Bayraktar, and his accompanying delegation. He confirmed that the North Oil Company is ready to resume oil exports from the Kirkuk fields to the port of Ceyhan, with an initial capacity of up to 100,000 barrels per day.”

The source indicated that “the resumption of Iraqi oil flow from the Kirkuk fields to the port of Ceyhan is contingent upon an official position from the federal Ministry of Oil, and the North Oil Company is ready to resume pumping within hours.”

He continued, “The North Oil Company has completed the repair of the pipeline after it was sabotaged by ISIS. The work included repairing the damaged sections between Kirkuk, Salah al-Din, and Nineveh, all the way to the Iraqi-Turkish border.” He explained that “the company worked to replace the damaged sections and fully completed the repairs, so that the pipeline is ready to transport any quantity specified by the federal Ministry of Oil.”

He explained that “the current production of the North Oil Company amounts to approximately 250,000 barrels per day, of which 10,000 barrels are allocated for export to Jordan, and approximately 100,000 barrels for local refining. In addition, some private refineries in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah are being equipped with quantities specified by the Ministry of Oil to produce gasoline and petroleum derivatives.”

The source confirmed that “the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline was ready to transport oil from the Kirkuk fields more than a year ago, and the North Oil Company conducted tests to pump oil in two stages,” indicating that “the implementation of the initial pumping from the Kirkuk fields to the Baiji refineries was successful, while the second stage began from the pumping and gathering station in Baiji, passing through the Ain Jahsh and Shura areas in Nineveh Governorate, arriving at the final pumping station in Dohuk, where the oil was pumped and the various parts of the pipeline were monitored, which proved its 100% readiness.”

Another source in the North Oil Company told Shafaq News Agency, “The resumption process is linked to negotiations between the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the Turkish side. As for the North Oil Company, it has the ability to resume exports within hours if it receives a notification from Baghdad. However, today’s discussions did not resolve the resumption issue, but it has made progress in this matter.”

For his part, energy expert Youssef Mahmoud explained to Shafaq News Agency that “the trial pumping operation is an important step in assessing the integrity of the pipeline and the readiness of the pumping stations to transport oil from Kirkuk to Ceyhan.” He stressed that “the stations have been repeatedly sabotaged by ISIS, making the completion of repairs of utmost importance.”

He added that “reaching an agreement to export oil from Iraq to Turkey will help resolve technical issues related to the pipeline. Kirkuk is capable of handling approximately 100,000 barrels per day, with the possibility of increasing this number based on the production of the North Oil Company. However, resuming exports depends on negotiations between Baghdad and Ankara.”

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar arrived in Baghdad on Sunday, according to a statement from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.

The ministry said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency that Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, received Bayraktar and his accompanying delegation.

According to the statement, the meeting discussed bilateral relations between the two countries in the fields of oil, gas, and energy.

Turkey halted flows from the pipeline, which transports oil from the Kurdistan Region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, in March 2023 after an arbitration court ordered it to pay approximately $1.5 billion in compensation to Iraq for transporting oil without Baghdad’s approval. Ankara refused to pay the fine at the time and demanded that Erbil pay it.

The pipeline closure halted Iraqi oil exports by approximately 500,000 barrels per day. The resumption of oil flows from Kurdistan may mitigate some of the impact on markets caused by reduced shipments from Iraq, the main source of crude.

Iraq had been exporting between 400,000 and 500,000 barrels per day from northern fields, including the Kurdistan Region, via the now-defunct pipeline. Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said earlier this month that Iraq plans to transport at least 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil once operations resume. He added that the Iraqi government has also begun a formal process to persuade the regional government to transfer the oil to the Federal Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO).

On February 24, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani revealed new details regarding the imminent resumption of Kurdistan Region oil exports via the Turkish-Ceyhan pipeline.

Abdul Ghani told Reuters that “Iraq is awaiting Türkiye’s approval to resume oil flows from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” expecting exports to resume “within two days.”

Asked whether the resumption of regional oil exports would affect Iraq’s OPEC compliance, the Iraqi minister stated, “Baghdad is committed to OPEC+ decisions, and export volumes are under the control of the Iraqi Oil Ministry.”

Asked whether Kurdistan’s oil exports, via the nearby port of Ceyhan in Turkey, would include crude oil produced from Iraq’s Kirkuk fields, Abdul Ghani confirmed that “production from the Kirkuk fields will be for local use only.”

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