Iraq announces resumption of Kurdistan oil exports after more than two years of halt

 The Iraqi government announced on Thursday an agreement to resume crude oil exports from the Kurdistan Region after a halt of more than two years.

The agreement stipulates that the regional government will immediately begin handing over all oil produced from the region's oil fields to the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) for export, with the quantity delivered not being less than 230,000 barrels per day. 

The federal Ministry of Finance will pay the regional government $16 per barrel, according to Agence France-Presse.

The Ministry of Oil announced last February the completion of all procedures for exporting oil produced in the Kurdistan Region via the Turkish port of Ceyhan, following a two-year halt due to disputes between Baghdad and Erbil. At the time, the ministry said in a statement that oil exports would be conducted "in accordance with the mechanisms outlined in the budget law and its amendments, and within Iraq's production ceiling set by OPEC."

Türkiye halted the pipeline in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Ankara to pay $1.5 billion to Baghdad in compensation for unauthorized exports between 2014 and 2018. link