Ministry of Oil: Natural Resources Authority rejected resuming crude oil exports from the Kurdistan pipeline
Ministry of Oil: Natural Resources Authority rejected resuming crude oil exports from the Kurdistan pipeline
2026-03-15 03:05
Shafaq News – Baghdad
The Iraqi Oil Ministry announced on Sunday that the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Region had rejected a request to resume crude oil exports from the pipeline in the region via the Turkish port of Ceyhan to compensate for the quantities halted from the southern fields due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as the conflict in the region widens.
This came in a statement issued by the ministry, in response to inquiries it received from media outlets, parliamentarians and those interested in oil affairs regarding the resumption of exports from the region’s system, “especially in these critical regional circumstances, to reduce the damage caused by the complete cessation of exports.”
The ministry confirmed in its statement that, “through continuous communication with the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Region since the beginning of the regional crisis, the Ministry of Oil is ready to resume exports in quantities not exceeding 300,000 barrels via the export pipeline within the region towards the port of Ceyhan, in addition to the quantities of oil from the fields within the region that were exported before the current circumstances, amounting to no less than 200,000 barrels per day.”
She noted that the Kurdistan pipeline’s export capacity is around 900,000 barrels per day.
The statement noted that “the Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed its refusal to resume exports at present and set several conditions unrelated to the issue of crude oil exports.”
The ministry said, “We have made it clear that these conditions can be discussed later in parallel with the resumption of oil exports, as the delay in exporting will deprive Iraq of some financial resources as part of the compensation for halting exports from the southern ports.”
The Iraqi Oil Ministry renewed its demand to the Natural Resources Authority to resume exports immediately, based on the supreme national interest and in accordance with the constitution and the budget law.
Shafaq News Agency was unable to obtain an immediate response from the Ministry of Natural Resources in the Kurdistan Region to comment on the statements of the Federal Ministry of Oil at the time of writing this news.
shafaq.com
