Turkish Energy Minister Arrives in Baghdad for Oil and Gas Talks
Turkish Energy Minister Arrives in Baghdad for Oil and Gas Talks
2025-03-16 04:37
Shafaq News/ Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alp Arslan arrived in Baghdad on Sunday, according to a statement issued by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.
The ministry said in a statement that Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil Hayan Abdul-Ghani Al-Sawad received Arslan 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.
The meeting was attended by the Undersecretary for Extraction Affairs and the General Managers of the Oil Marketing Company, the North Oil Company, the Economic Department, and the Legal Department, according to the statement.
Turkey halted flows on the pipeline, which transports oil from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq 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).
Türkiye has repeatedly said that the pipeline is operational and that it is up to Iraq to resume flows, and the United States has also expressed a strong desire to see oil flow through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
Resuming pipeline shipments could pose a dilemma for Baghdad, which is committed to reducing crude production as part of the OPEC+ agreement but is struggling to comply with the promised cuts.
OPEC’s production and exports are under increased scrutiny after US President Donald Trump called on the group in early 2025 to “bring down the price of oil.”
shafaq.com
