Smoke billows from a damaged oil installation at the Sarsang oil field following a drone attack on the Chamanke district in Iraq's Kurdistan
Iraq's Kurdish oil exports restart is not imminent
A source at APIKUR, a group of oil companies working in Kurdistan, says that a restart depends on the receipt of written agreements, while another at KAR Group, which operates the pipeline, says that no preparations have been made for a restart.
Friday 18/07/2025
Smoke billows from a damaged oil installation at the Sarsang oil field following a drone attack on the Chamanke district in Iraq's Kurdistan
BAGHDAD/LONDON - A restart of Iraq's Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, sources close to the matter said on Friday, despite Iraq's federal government saying on Thursday that shipments would resume immediately.
Baghdad and Erbil have been in negotiations since February to end a stand-off that has halted flows from the north of the country to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The KRG was producing about 435,000 barrels per day (bpd) before the pipeline closure in March 2023.
On Thursday the federal government said that Iraqi Kurdistan would resume oil exports immediately through the pipeline to Turkey despite drone attacks that have shut down half of the region's output.
But on Friday a source at APIKUR, a group of oil companies working in Kurdistan, said that a restart depended on the receipt of written agreements. Another at KAR Group, which operates the pipeline, said that no preparations had been made for a restart.