Baghdad, Erbil face make-or-break oil export meeting

Shafaq News/ A high-level meeting between Baghdad and Erbil is scheduled for Saturday to discuss the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region, a senior Kurdish official revealed.

Umed Sabah, Chief of Staff to the KRG Council of Ministers, told reporters that representatives from international oil companies operating in the Region would also participate in the meeting.

“The issue of oil exports is a top priority for the KRG, and we have fulfilled all our obligations,” Sabah said during a press conference in Erbil. “We hope discussions will move in the right direction.”

Exports through the Iraq–Turkiye pipeline were halted in March 2023 following an international arbitration ruling in Paris, which found Turkiye had violated a 1973 agreement by allowing the KRG to export oil independently of Baghdad.

The stoppage blocked about 450,000 barrels per day of crude, cutting off the KRG’s primary source of revenue. This disruption strained the Region’s finances, triggered production cuts, and increased its reliance on budget transfers from the federal government.

Talks between Erbil, Baghdad, and foreign oil operators have yet to yield a framework for revenue-sharing or contract harmonization.