BAGHDAD –
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani told reporters on Sunday that no progress has been made in talks with oil companies over summarizing oil exports from the Kurdistan region to Turkey.
Turkey halted 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of northern exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline in March last year after an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration ruling.
The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of about $1.5 billion for unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.
Last week, US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel said that Washington continues its direct rounds of talks with Ankara, Baghdad and Erbil over the summary of the Kurdistan region’s oil exports.
“We continue to engage directly with officials in Baghdad, officials in Ankara, officials in Erbil as well as US companies that are affected by stoppage on reopening the ITP (Iraq-Turkey pipeline) pipeline, developing multiple rounds for Iraqi energy to flow into global markets. It is a common interest of ours,” Patel told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing.
Despite several meetings between Kurdish, Iraqi and Turkish officials, exports have yet to resume and many international oil companies have suspended production, resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue.
Geoffrey Pyatt, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources on Thursday visited power plants and refineries in Erbil province, likening the Kurdistan Region to his country’s oil-rich Oklahoma.
“I must say today’s visit has left a powerful impression on me in terms of the energy abundance of this region… I said in our meeting that this is like a little Oklahoma. As I look at the landscape here, it reminds me so much of some of our oil producing regions in the United States,” Pyatt said during a joint news conference with Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani at Khurmal power and refinery facilities in Erbil.
Pyatt and Barzani also visited the Mass Global power plant in the province.
“We discussed advancing energy sector collaboration, opportunities to invest in clean and renewable energy projects and plans to improve the electricity sector for Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” Barzani said in a statement.
“We both agreed on the importance of restarting Kurdistan’s oil exports, as their suspension has resulted in significant economic loss for Iraq in general. After the meeting, we visited the Mass Global power plant in Pirdawood and the Khurmala power and refinery facilities operated by Kar Group in Erbil,” he added.
