Date set for resuming Kurdistan crude oil exports.. Iraqi Oil Minister: Gas investment projects are ongoing
Date set for resuming Kurdistan crude oil exports.. Iraqi Oil Minister: Gas investment projects are ongoing
2025-02-17 05:27
Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani, announced on Monday the implementation of several gas investment projects, and while calling on international companies to submit their offers to compete in the upcoming licensing rounds, he revealed that the resumption of the export of Kurdistan Region’s oil via the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline will be “within a week.”
Abdul Ghani said, during the opening of the Iraqi-British Businessmen Forum in Baghdad, followed by Shafaq News Agency, that “the Ministry of Oil is currently implementing several projects to invest in gas, most notably the contract with the French company Total to produce 600 million cubic feet in Basra Governorate and 200 million cubic feet of gas with Baker Hughes to invest in gas from the fields of Nasiriyah city.”
He pointed out that gas production operations have begun from the Akkas gas field in Anbar Governorate with a capacity of 400 million cubic feet, in addition to other projects in the Halfaya field in Maysan Governorate and Mansouriya in Diyala that are under implementation within the framework of the fifth licensing round for gas investment in a number of governorates.
He stated that Iraq is working through these projects to meet domestic consumption requirements, especially with regard to operating power stations in the country.
Abdul Ghani called on international companies to submit their offers to compete in the new licensing round to invest in the fields and exploration areas that the Ministry of Oil intends to offer for investment in the future in a number of Iraqi provinces.
He stated that the Ministry of Oil is currently implementing major projects to meet refining requirements and build new refineries, in addition to projects to build new lines to export oil and gas.
On the other hand, Abdul Ghani confirmed that Baghdad and Erbil are in the process of putting the final touches on the start of “receiving and exporting Kurdistan Region oil within a week,” after disputes that lasted for about two years and led to the cessation of exports.
The Kurdistan Region used to export 450,000 barrels of oil daily through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, without the approval of the federal government in Baghdad. However, these exports stopped in March 2023 after an international arbitration panel issued a decision in favor of Baghdad, prohibiting any export of the region’s oil except through the federal government’s oil company, SOMO.
Abdul Ghani said, “We have agreed with the region to receive no less than 300,000 barrels per day from the region’s fields, to export them through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.”
He pointed out that a delegation will head from Baghdad to Erbil next Tuesday “to negotiate a mechanism for using the oil,” adding that “its export will resume within a week.”
In early February, the Iraqi parliament approved an amendment to the general budget that would settle the dispute between the Kurdistan Region and the federal government in Baghdad over receiving the region’s oil.
The amendment stipulates that “compensation” be paid to the Kurdistan Regional Government for the cost of producing oil and transporting it to the federal government, according to the text published by the official media.
Kurdistan Region oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan have not resumed since Turkey closed the pipeline in 2023, after an arbitration court ordered Ankara to pay about $1.5 billion in compensation to Baghdad for transporting oil from the Kurdistan Region without the Iraqi government’s approval.
shafaq.com
