Turkey announces the imminent resumption of the oil pipeline with Iraq
Turkey announces the imminent resumption of the oil pipeline with Iraq
9-15-2023
Turkish Energy Minister Alp Arslan Bayraktar announced that the oil pipeline between Iraq and Turkey will be technically ready for operation soon, and will be qualified to transport oil from northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export, without specifying a specific date, indicating that inspection of the line has been completed.
Bayrakdar said in a press briefing yesterday, Thursday, “As of today, an independent survey company has completed its work, and is now preparing the report.”
Turkey stopped flows through the pipeline on March 25 after a ruling in an arbitration case issued by the International Chamber of Commerce ruled Ankara to pay compensation to Baghdad for unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq between 2014 and 2018.
Turkey then began maintenance work on the pipeline that passes through a seismically active area, which it says was damaged by the earthquake that struck Turkey last February.
Last August, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani agreed with Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alp Arslan Bayraktar in Ankara on the importance of resuming the flow of Iraqi Kurdistan oil to Turkey, after the completion of pipeline rehabilitation operations.
$1.47 billion
It is noteworthy that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had held Baghdad responsible for resuming the pumping of Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil, as he announced on July 12, 2023, that the delay in the return of supplies and the payment of compensation was due to the dispute between the central government in Baghdad and the regional government in Erbil.
The Iraqi authorities had filed a lawsuit against Turkey for obtaining crude oil from the Kurdistan region without its approval, which the International Chamber of Commerce relied on in its ruling to stop exports, and ruled to compensate Baghdad about 1.47 billion dollars.
The decision led to the interruption of supplies amounting to about 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Kurdistan fields in northern Iraq, in addition to 75,000 barrels from other Iraqi regions heading from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea, with a length of 970 kilometers.
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