Iraq and Kurdistan agreed this week to extend a deal for the export of crude oil from the northern semi-autonomous region until March 2026, Rudaw reported, citing the head of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization.
“The three sides – the federal government, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the oil companies – have agreed to renew the agreement for the export of Kurdistan Region oil,” SOMO’s Ali Nazar al-Shatri told the news outlet. The extension agreement comes a week before the expiry of the current deal, agreed in September.
Exports from Iraq’s northern region via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan resumed on September 27, after two and a half years of halt over disagreements between the federal Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government over how export revenues should be distributed.
Eight foreign companies operating in Kurdistan signed agreements with the KRG and the Federal Government of Iraq to enable the restart of international crude exports from the region.
Under the agreement to restart oil exports, hailed as historic by Iraq’s federal government, KRG began delivering at the end of September about 190,000 bpd of crude to SOMO. Kurdistan is also entitled to keep 50,000 bpd to use for local consumption. Per the original agreement, KRG committed to delivering at least 230,000 barrels of crude daily to the Iraqi state oil marketing company.
Earlier this month, SOMO reminded foreign oil companies operating in Kurdistan that under that September deal they had a commitment to transfer their output from the region to SOMO. There is one company that refused to sign the deal, Norwegian DNO, which delivers its Kurdish crude directly to the Kurdistan government. The company, which is the largest foreign oil operator in Kurdistan, has concerns about the repayment of outstanding debt under the September deal.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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