Eight oil companies operating in Kurdistan have reached an agreement with Iraq’s federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to resume oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, Reuters reports. Exports from Kurdistan have been suspended since March 2023, following a Paris-based arbitration ruling in Iraq’s favor against Turkey. Norway’s DNO and the UK’s Genel Energy have yet to sign the deal, as they seek clarity on roughly $1 billion in unpaid arrears owed by the KRG, according to Reuters.
The agreement comes after years of disputes over Kurdish oil exports. A July 2024 Reuters investigation revealed that smuggling from Kurdistan to Iran surged following the suspension of official exports in 2023.
According to the same Reuters report “Twelve people said officials in Kurdistan’s two ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of the Barzani clan and the PUK of the Talabani clan, were the beneficiaries [of the smuggling].”
