Iraq adopts budget bill to restart oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi parliament recently approved a budget amendment that permits the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan region of Iraq through the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
Operating oil companies in the Kurdistan region of Iraq will resume oil exports at a rate of $16 per barrel, double the previous rate, as a result of the amendment to the draft budget legislation.
It is anticipated that this price structure would speed up the return of Iraqi Kurdistan's oil exports to global markets, promoting regional cooperation and economic stability.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government in Baghdad have been involved in a political dispute for several years over Iraqi Kurdistan's oil resources.
Ikhlas Al-Dulaimi, member of Iraq's parliamentary finance committee, revealed on Sunday that more than $14 billion was lost as a result of the suspension of oil exports from the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
According to Al-Dulaimi, the price is changeable since a consulting agency will determine the actual cost of oil extraction, which may reach $22 per barrel.
Late in January, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani said that the Iraqi parliament had received draft legislation pertaining to the delivery of oil produced in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Iraqi Kurdistan will supply at least 250,000 to 300,000 barrels of oil per day to be exported through the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), Abdul-Ghani told the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
Crude oil flows via the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline, which once handled around 0.5 percent of the world's oil supply, have been halted since March 2023 due to legal and financial uncertainties.
Flows through the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline ceased when the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris ruled in March 2023 that Ankara had violated a 1973 convention by permitting oil exports without the consent of Iraq's federal government.
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