The “Iraq Oil report” website, on Saturday, revealed a new development related to the exports of oil of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
“Iraq is moving forward in its attempt to enforce a major arbitration award against Turkey, in order for a US court to issue a $601.9 million ruling in favor of Iraq,” the website said.
He explained that “the new Iraqi move is a sign that Baghdad and Ankara do not seem to be close to the type of diplomatic agreement needed, to reopen the oil export pipeline of the Kurdistan Region, through Turkey, despite a wave of technical talks in mid-September, which was moving towards resuming export operations.”
This comes, days after U.S. assurances, to continue working with all parties involved to reopen the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline in the near future.
On September 15, Turkish Energy Minister Alp Arslan Birqdar announced the completion of the inspection of the oil pipeline from the Kurdistan Region to the port of Ceyhan, and confirmed that the line will be “technically” ready for operation soon.
Turkey halted flows through the pipeline in the Kurdistan Region on March 25, after a ruling in an arbitration case issued by the International Chamber of Commerce, Ankara, ordered the payment of compensation to Baghdad, for exporting oil through the Kurdistan Region without reference to the federal government between 2014 and 2018.
After that decision, Turkey began maintenance work on the pipeline, which runs through a seismically active area that it says was damaged by floods caused by the devastating earthquake that hit the southern region on February 6.
It is noteworthy that the Association of the Oil Industry in the Kurdistan Region announced in late August that stopping exports to the Turkish port of Ceyhan has cost producers and the Iraqi government losses of about $4 billion, as producers in the region have been forced to reduce production since stopping the flow of oil through the pipeline.
