AJ
The United States of America threatened, today, Friday, February 21, 2025, the federal government in Iraq with sanctions if the Kurdistan Region's oil exports are not resumed quickly. Reuters quoted sources as saying: "The administration of President Donald Trump asked Iraq to resume (Kurdish) oil exports quickly or face sanctions alongside Iran." The sources added, according to Reuters, that "Washington believes that Kurdish oil sales may help reduce crude prices and compensate for the decline in Iranian supplies." Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani revealed on Tuesday that Iraq had sent a delegation from the ministry to the Kurdistan Region to agree on a mechanism for delivering the region’s oil and exporting it through the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The Minister of Oil explained that he had contacted the Minister of Natural Resources in the region, Kamal Mohammed Saleh, to negotiate with the delegation about the mechanism for receiving and exporting oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan. This came a day after Iraq accelerated the expected date for the resumption of oil exports from Kurdistan, as the federal oil minister said last Monday that oil exports from the Kurdistan region could resume within just a week. It is noteworthy that the President of the Region, Nechirvan Barzani, announced a few days ago that the resumption of shipments will likely take place next March. Iraq exports between 400,000 and 500,000 barrels per day from fields in the north of the country, including the Kurdistan region, via the now-defunct Iraq-Turkey pipeline. Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said earlier this month that at least 300,000 barrels per day of crude were planned to be moved once operations resumed. In Iraqi Kurdistan, oil production ranges between about 280,000 and 300,000 barrels per day, and the regional government estimates its needs for domestic consumption - including power generation - at about 110,000 to 120,000 barrels per day.
