SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Natural Resources Ministry on Thursday said that it waits on “Turkey’s response” to restart Kurdish crude exports via pipeline.
The Natural Resources Ministry also said that all of the regulations to restart Kurdish crude exports have been completed after the recent KRG-Baghdad deal, according to a statement.
“Iraq’s national organization for oil marketing (SOMO) has submitted an official request since May 10 to restart Kurdish oil flow to the market via the Kirkuk-Cheyhan pipeline,” it said.
Kurdish crude exports via Turkey were halted in late March following an international arbitration ruling in the interest of Baghdad.
Baghdad repeatedly claimed Kurdistan Region’s independent crude exports were “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
The arbitration ruling led to a deal that was recently signed between the KRG and the Federal government by which the KRG has agreed to hand over its crude supplies, and SOMO must be the responsible party to sell it.
