News17 Jul 2025 20:26
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government in Baghdad have reached a settlement that will enable the resumption of oil flows from Iraqi Kurdistan to global markets via the Turkish port of Ceyhan, following a suspension lasting nearly 28 months.
The Iraqi cabinet approved several decisions on Thursday, facilitating the return of oil from Iraqi Kurdistan to the global market through the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO). This also includes the quotas allocated to the Kurdistan region of Iraq for domestic consumption.
The Iraqi cabinet decided that the KRG should immediately start handing over all oil produced in Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil fields to SOMO for export.
According to the decisions, the Iraqi Ministry of Finance is required to pay $16 for each barrel of oil received from Iraqi Kurdistan in compliance with the budget legislation, given that the volume received does not fall below the existing 230,000 barrels per day.
Iraqi Kurdistan is currently producing 280,000 barrels of oil per day. 50,000 barrels per day are set aside for domestic consumption in Iraqi Kurdistan, with the remaining 230,000 barrels per day handed over to SOMO.
Crude oil shipments through the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline have been suspended since March 2023. This pipeline previously accounted for approximately 0.5 percent of the world’s oil supply.
After the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris ruled that Ankara had violated a 1973 treaty by permitting oil exports without the approval of the federal government in Baghdad, oil flows via the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline were stopped.
The ruling obligated Turkey to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in compensation for losses caused by the KRG’s illegal oil exports between 2014 and 2018.