Iraq's Oil Ministry on Tuesday called for a meeting with the Ministry of Natural Resources from the semi-autonomous entity controlling Iraq's north and international companies operating there "as soon as possible" to reach a deal on resuming oil exports via a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Traffic via the Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline (ITP), which once handled about 0.5% of global oil supply has been halted, stuck in legal and financial limbo, since March 2023, and talks to resume the exports have stalled.
The sharing of oil revenues between Iraq's federal government and its semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the north has been a cause of tensions between the two sides.
Most recently, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed S. Al Sudani was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying the government was eager to resolve an impasse over prices that has halted oil exports for more than a year.
The Iraq-Türkiye pipeline has been offline since March last year when Ankara halted flows following an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion over what it said were unauthorized exports by the KRG between 2014 and 2018.
Türkiye, on the other hand, said the ICC had recognized most of Ankara's demands. The Turkish Energy Ministry said the chamber ordered Iraq to compensate Türkiye for several violations concerning the case.
