Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraq has requested that Turkey renew the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline agreement for at least a year to allow for negotiations on a new deal.
Director of Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), Ali Nizar al-Shatri, said in a statement that Iraq has exported 12 million barrels of crude oil from its southern ports since June 1, Reuters reported on Sunday.
According to al-Shatri, the Iraqi government has requested further time from Ankara to discuss a new arrangement for the crucial export channel.
The Iraq-Turkey Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement, which oversees exports via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, will expire on July 27. Baghdad and Ankara are now considering a fresh draft accord.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and Turkish Ambassador to Iraq Anil Bora Inan discussed last month the activation of an oil pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Earlier in May, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil revealed that the Kirkuk-Nineveh crude oil pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan will be operational within a month.
According to official reports, the pipeline is located outside the Kurdistan region of Iraq and was designed with an export capacity of up to 350,000 barrels per day.
In early March, Baghdad requested Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) leaders to allow Iraqi oil to flow again from Kirkuk via a pipeline to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan after a stop in all international shipments on March 1 due to the regional conflict that resulted in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
