Tishwash: Oil Companies Signal Readiness to Resume Exports via Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline Pending Binding Agreements
7/14/2025 ERBIL —
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) announced Monday that its member companies are prepared to immediately resume oil exports through the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline (ITP), pending the conclusion of binding agreements with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Government of Iraq (GoI).
In a statement, APIKUR welcomed the intensified negotiations between the KRG and Baghdad aimed at resolving the long-standing suspension of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region. The talks seek to secure a framework that would guarantee payment certainty and recognize the existing contractual rights of international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Region.
On July 12, representatives from APIKUR member companies, along with other IOCs active in the Kurdistan Region, participated in a high-level meeting with KRG and GoI officials. During the meeting, the companies expressed readiness to restart exports as soon as agreements are finalized that reflect each company’s legally binding production sharing contracts and address outstanding payment arrears.
“All payments must be made promptly and transparently,” APIKUR stated, “either in cash or through the transfer of each company’s entitlement share of oil ‘in kind,’” emphasizing that terms must be acceptable to both the IOCs and the KRG.
“APIKUR member companies stand ready to resume exports as soon as written agreements are executed that honor our existing contracts which are governed by international law,” said APIKUR spokesperson Myles B. Caggins III. “APIKUR has always firmly held that our members’ production sharing contracts must be honored in every respect and members have never participated in any meetings with any governmental body suggesting otherwise.”
The announcement comes as pressure mounts on Baghdad to find a sustainable resolution to the oil export impasse that has significantly impacted the Kurdistan Region’s economy and broader energy markets. While no exact timeline was provided, both Baghdad and Erbil are currently engaged in intensive talks to reach a near-term agreement.
Oil exports through the ITP have been suspended since March 2023 following a ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that halted independent Kurdish oil sales. The ongoing negotiations aim to restore flows under a framework that satisfies both legal and commercial concerns. LINK
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Tishwash: Iraq signs an agreement with the American company HKN to increase oil production in the Hamrin field.
The Iraqi Ministry of Oil announced on Tuesday the signing of an agreement in principle between the North Oil Company and the American company HKN to develop the Hamrin oil field.
Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs and Minister of Oil Hayan Abdul-Ghani affirmed the ministry’s commitment to cooperating with reputable American, Western, and other international companies to develop oil fields, optimize gas investment, and maximize production capacity in support of the national economy.
This came during his patronage and attendance of the signing ceremony of the agreement to invest and develop the Hamrin field.
Abdul Ghani said that the ministry seeks to raise the field’s production rates to 60 thousand barrels per day, in addition to investing (45-50) cubic meters of associated gas to supply power generation stations with fuel, noting that the Hamrin field is one of the producing fields and the current production rates are (20-25) thousand barrels per day, despite the economic and security challenges.
He pointed out Iraq’s aspirations for joint cooperation with reputable American companies, explaining that there are numerous negotiations for investment in the oil, gas and energy sectors.
The signing ceremony was attended by the Ministry’s Undersecretaries, the Chargé d’Affaires of the US Embassy, the Prime Minister’s Advisor, and a number of Directors General at the Ministry’s headquarters.
US Chargé d’Affaires Stephen Fagin said, “We are pleased to be attending the signing ceremony today at the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. We are also pleased that an American company is investing in Iraq, and we would like to see more business with Iraq.”
For his part, the Director General of the North Oil Company, Amer Khalil, said that the agreement signed would serve as a basis for signing a development contract later, noting that the contract aims to develop all oil wells in the field and qualify personnel, and contributes to securing gas fuel to operate power plants and employ Iraqi workers.
In turn, HKN Vice President Matthew Zeiss said: “We are very proud to be working and cooperating with the Ministry of Oil. Our goal is to develop the Hamrin field to its full potential, utilize Iraqi capabilities to operate and operate at 80% capacity, and develop the local community in the operating area.” link
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Tishwash: Between IMF recommendations and Baghdad’s ambitions… Iraq plans a new economy
Prime Minister’s advisor, Mazhar Mohammed Saleh, confirmed on Monday that the government’s reform policy has not deviated from the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund, while explaining that the government seeks to transform the rentier economy into a diversified, productive economy.
“Despite the significant financial exposure to oil revenues, which has made the financing of public spending, especially investment, dependent on oil price fluctuations and the oil asset cycle, as well as the pressure of employment in the government sector, which has absorbed the state’s resources without creating parallel productivity in the real economy, these are facts that put pressure on the growth paths of the rentier economy.
However, it can be said that Iraq possesses promising economic components if they are employed within a realistic and gradual development vision,” Saleh said in a statement to the official media, followed by “Al-Mutalaa”.
He added, “Strengthening the non-oil sector requires a real shift from a rentier economy to a diversified productive economy, something the current government is seeking to achieve within the framework of its government program.
The reform policy currently being adopted by the government has not departed from the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund, which are repeated in most of its meetings, official gatherings, and reports.”
He pointed out that the government program approved by the Council of Representatives in October 2022 serves as a guide and vision that has been implemented in the work of the Iraqi reform government.
This has been embodied in the transformations in the country’s economic policy, despite the heavy social and economic legacy accumulated over the past years, such as stalled projects, thousands of employment contracts with the government that lead to permanent employment, and the poverty alleviation program, which required reaching two million families in the social welfare budget. He explained that:
“The government has paved its way with the non-oil economy in an exceptional way since it announced that it is a government of services, as it began implementing dozens of service infrastructure projects that were suspended, including starting to build one million housing units and hundreds of school buildings, hospitals, bridges, roads, electricity and water networks, and announcing a partnership program, especially in the industrial and energy fields, with the private sector, by granting the private sector sovereign guarantees to interact in technologically advanced industrial investment, without neglecting the agricultural support policy that provided sufficient security from the production of grain crops.
This is what indicated the decline in unemployment to 13 percent after it was 17 percent, in addition to the high stability in the general price level, which did not exceed 3 percent.”
He continued, “The government is proceeding with banking structural reforms without interruption, in addition to its successes in bringing Iraq into the digital age by improving digital payment systems, and the progress achieved in the gas sector and its exploitation within the development of the energy sector and natural resources, all of which constitute key factors for sustainable economic growth, which reflects the stability of Iraq’s credit rating, with the adoption of the Development Path Strategy as a program to achieve the goals of generating a leading economic sector in development outside the oil sector, to shape the coming economic future in sustainable development in our country without interruption.” link
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