BAGHDAD,— Eight international oil companies operating in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have reached preliminary agreements with both the federal government in Baghdad and the Authority in Kurdistan, which refers to itself as the Kurdistan Regional Government, to resume crude exports, an industry association said Wednesday.
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) said the framework would reopen the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, halted since March 2023, and allow about 230,000 barrels per day to flow again.
The group noted that the agreement preserves existing contract terms and secures payments for international operators.
APIKUR represents eight producers in the Kurdistan region, accounting for more than 90 percent of output.
A source familiar with the talks told Reuters that two members, Norway-based DNO and UK-listed Genel Energy, have not yet signed the framework.
Two other companies outside the association, KAR Group and Forza Petroleum, have already endorsed the deal, according to the source.
The two holdouts signaled Tuesday they welcomed the restart but wanted changes related to overdue payments owed by the Kurdish authorities. Industry officials say arrears to producers stand near $1 billion, with DNO owed about $300 million.
According to APIKUR, Baghdad, Erbil, and the oil companies also agreed to meet within 30 days of exports resuming to develop a system for settling those outstanding debts.
The pipeline to Turkey’s port of Ceyhan was shut down in 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ruled in favor of Baghdad, ordering Ankara to pay $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized exports by the Kurdish government.
Turkey has appealed the decision but has said it is prepared to restart operations.
Iraq, the second-largest producer in OPEC, has already given initial approval to restart flows from Kurdistan, Reuters reported last week.
Iraqi Kurdistan recorded $12.9 billion in total revenue for 2024, with about 87 percent coming from oil sales, according to caretaker Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
(With files from Reuters)
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