RE: Ceyhan17 Mar 2026 09:29
Gotta agree, "this again", except this time Kurdistan has significant leverage.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Kurdistan-Leverages-Oil-Amid-Baghdad-Iran-Tensions.html
As further testament to those who believe God has an impish sense of humour, Baghdad’s ability to make any meaningful money from its own crude oil exports now rests squarely on the KRG agreeing to its request to allow it to use the ITP to move its oil to Turkey. This has become even more pressing for the FGI following the decision of newly installed Iranian Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, to keep the Strait of Hormuz blocked until further notice. Given the inability to monetise the vast bulk of the 3.3-3.5 million barrels per day of oil that it usually shipped south through the Strait of Hormuz, Baghdad last week formally asked the KRG that it be allowed to pump up to 200,000 bpd crude from its state-managed Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey’s port of Ceyhan, a senior source close to Iraq’s Oil Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com last week. “This is a starting point, with the hope that it could be increased in the coming weeks, but we’ve heard nothing back from them [the KRG] yet,” the source added. A senior source in the European Union’s (E.U.’s) energy security complex told OilPrice.com exclusively over the weekend that any agreement from the KRG would come “with a very long list of conditions”.