BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said he hoped to reach an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and foreign oil companies to resume oil production from the Kurdish region’s oil fields. ‘here three days.
Hayan Abdel-Ghani said during a visit to Erbil, the capital of semi-autonomous Kurdistan, on Sunday that Baghdad had reached an “agreement” with Turkey regarding the resumption of oil exports via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
Turkey cut off the flow of some 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) on March 25 after an arbitration by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of around 1 $.5 billion for unauthorized KRG exports between 2014 and 2018.
A delegation led by Hayan Abdel-Ghani began discussions on Sunday with the Kurdish officials concerned. “The aim of this meeting is to resolve all issues in order to facilitate the resumption of oil production and exports,” the minister said in Erbil.
“The first step is to agree with the region and the companies on adjusting their existing contracts to bring them into line with the Iraqi Constitution. We could reach an agreement in three days.”
(Written by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, French version Tangi Salaün)
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