It requires agreeing on local consumption quantities and paying corporate dues
The negotiation delegation of the Kurdistan Regional Government responded, on Saturday, February 22, 2025, to the statement of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil on the resumption of the export of the region’s oil through the port of Cihan.
The delegation said in a statement of which “Al-Jabal” received a copy, that “regarding what was stated in the statement of the Federal Ministry of Oil to complete the procedures for resuming the export of crude oil from the fields of the Kurdistan Region, we would like to show that despite the confirmation of the regional government’s commitment to apply the First Amendment Law of the Federal General Budget Law on the re-export of oil produced from the fields of the region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan through the Petroleum Marketing Company (SUMO), in our joint meeting with the delegation of the Federal Ministry of Oil held on February 18, 2025 in Erbil, it was emphasized that the application of the above law requires before starting the export to agreement on the quantities allocated for the purpose of Domestic consumption according to the actual needs of the region and its obligations, as in the rest of Iraq. ”
The statement added, “The federal side also explained that the matter needs to obtain the approval of the state of the Federal Prime Minister, and on the other hand, re-export requires agreeing on a specific and clear mechanism to pay the dues of production and transport companies to the regional government, as stated in the law and in detail, which was stated in the minutes of the meeting with the delegation of the Federal Ministry of Oil. The federal side made it clear that this matter concerns the Federal Ministry of Finance and this requires discussing this issue with it.”
The statement continued, “Accordingly, we emphasize to the federal side the need to speed up the resolution of the above-mentioned issues, and to obtain approvals from the federal authorities, which we discussed in detail in the meeting, and that the regional government emphasizes the need to re-export the region’s oil as soon as possible by the Oil Marketing Company (SOMO), depositing its revenues in the Federal Treasury and maximizing revenues in the public good.”
Earlier today, the Federal Ministry of Oil announced “the completion of the procedures for resuming the export of oil produced in the Kurdistan Region through the port of Cihan in accordance with the mechanisms outlined in the budget law and its amendment and within the production ceiling set for Iraq in OPEC.”
According to a statement, the ministry requested “the regional authorities to hand over the quantities produced from the operating fields to the oil marketing company, to start exporting through the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline and the port of Ceyhan under the contracts signed with the candidate companies.”
