The Turkish Energy Minister, Alp Arslan Bayraktar, has declared that the oil pipeline connecting Iraq and Turkey will soon be technically ready for operations. This pipeline will be capable of transporting oil from northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export. However, no specific date has been provided for the pipeline’s operation. The Minister also mentioned that the inspection of the pipeline has been completed.
During a press briefing yesterday, Bayrakdar announced that an independent survey company had completed their work and was preparing the report.
On March 25, Turkey halted the flow of oil through a pipeline due to an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce. The ruling stated that Ankara must compensate Baghdad for the unauthorized export of oil by the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq from 2014 to 2018.
Turkey began maintenance on the pipeline passing through a seismically active area, claiming it was damaged by last February’s earthquake.
In August last year, the Oil Minister of Iraq, Hayan Abdul Ghani, and the Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alp Arslan Bayraktar, met in Ankara to discuss the significance of restarting the supply of oil from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey, once the pipeline renovation operations were finished.
$1.47 billion
On July 12, 2023, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that the delay in oil supplies from Iraqi Kurdistan and the payment of compensation was a result of a dispute between the central government in Baghdad and the regional government in Erbil. Erdogan held Baghdad accountable for resuming the pumping of oil from Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraq filed a lawsuit against Turkey for acquiring crude oil from the Kurdistan region without Baghdad’s consent. The International Chamber of Commerce used this as evidence to halt exports and ordered Turkey to pay Baghdad $1.47 billion in compensation.
The decision resulted in halting the supply of approximately 400,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Kurdistan fields located in northern Iraq, as well as 75,000 barrels from other regions of Iraq that were headed from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan located on the Mediterranean Sea. The pipeline connecting Kirkuk to Ceyhan spans over 970 kilometers in length.
