Iraq's northern oil exports to Turkey yet to resume, Kurdish output shut in

Genel Energy

06/04/2023 11:35

* 
      Baghdad, KRG signed temporary deal on April 4 agreeing to
resume
flows 
    

        * 
      Settled arbitration case involved 2014-18 exports
    

        * 
      A separate case regarding exports since 2018 remains open
    

        * 
      Turkey wants latter case resolved before resuming flows
-sources
    

  
    By Rowena Edwards
       LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Iraq's northern oil exports
to Turkey have not yet resumed, sources told Reuters on
Thursday, leaving several fields shut in the semi-autonomous
Kurdistan region.
    Turkey halted flows of about 450,000 barrels per day, or
0.5% of global oil supply, via a pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk
fields to Turkey's Ceyhan port on March 25 after Iraq won an
arbitration case.
    In the case, Iraq accused Turkey of violating their 1973
pipeline agreement by allowing the Kurdish Regional Government
(KRG) to export oil without Baghdad's consent between 2014 and
2018.
    Iraq's federal government and the KRG signed a temporary
agreement on Tuesday to restart northern oil exports through
Turkey, which several officials hoped would see exports resume
that day.
    Pipeline operators have yet to receive any instruction to
restart flows, a source familiar with the exports told Reuters
on condition of anonymity. 
    Iraq is still waiting for a response from Turkey, a separate
source said.
    A second arbitration case relating to the 1973 pipeline
agreement for the period from 2018 onwards remains open. 
    Turkey wants that case resolved before reopening the
pipeline, sources have previously told Reuters.
    The prolonged pipeline outage has forced oil firms in the
region to halt or reduce production at several fields, as
storage fills up.
    The Sarta field, which produced an average of 4,170 bpd last
year, is offline, a spokesman for operator Genel Energy  GEN.L 
said on Thursday. 
    The firm said on March 29 that output from the field could
flow until the end of the week, while tanks can take in
production from its Taq Taq field, which produced 4,490 bpd last
year, until April 21.
    "The recent disruptions to oil exports from the Kurdistan
Region have hurt the country as a whole. This agreement brings
much needed revenue," KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in
a statement following the signing of Tuesday's temporary deal.

 (Reporting by Rowena Edwards; editing by Jason Neely)
 ((Rowena.Edwards@thomsonreuters.com;))