Baghdad to discuss amending Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil contracts in December, 29 NOV

 Baghdad to discuss amending Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil contracts in December, 29 NOV

Officials in Iraq’s oil sector plan to meet with representatives of international oil companies and Iraqi Kurdish officials in early December. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss proposed amendments to the existing contracts, with a focus on the latest efforts to resume oil exports from northern Iraq via Turkey.

Bassem Khudair, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil for Extraction Affairs, informed Reuters that the revival of crude oil exports from the Kurdistan region of Iraq, which have been suspended since March, is subject to negotiations aimed at replacing the current production-sharing contracts with profit-sharing agreements.

Khudair explained that oil exports through Turkey will resume if companies agree to change their contracts.

We expect to reach an agreement with the companies. These companies want to continue working in the region without any problems, Khudair added.

Turkey halted exports of 450,000 barrels per day of oil from northern Iraq on March 25th following an arbitration case ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) exported oil to Turkey without Iraq’s authorization from 2014 to 2018. As a result, Turkey was ordered to pay $1.5 billion in compensation to Iraq.