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Iraq’s Oil Ministry stated Sunday that the KRG administration rejected Baghdad’s proposal to restart crude shipments through the northern pipeline to Türkiye’s Ceyhan port after regional tensions halted exports from southern terminals.
The ministry added that it has been in contact with the KRG’s Natural Resources Ministry since the crisis began and remains prepared to resume exports through the pipeline, with capacity to ship up to 300,000 barrels per day to the Mediterranean terminal.
Before the current disruptions, oil fields in northern Iraq exported at least 200,000 barrels per day, according to the ministry. The pipeline linking the region to Ceyhan has an overall capacity of roughly 900,000 barrels per day.
The ministry said it proposed using the northern route to limit export losses after crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz-linked southern terminals were halted during the regional crisis.
The KRG’s Natural Resources Ministry declined to approve the restart and raised several conditions that it described as unrelated to crude exports, the statement read.
The ministry warned that delays in restoring flows through the northern pipeline reduce Iraq’s ability to offset financial losses caused by the suspension of southern exports and reiterated its call for Erbil to restart exports immediately in line with national interests, the constitution and the country’s budget law.
The Kirkuk–Ceyhan oil pipeline, which links northern Iraq to Türkiye’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, has been at the center of a long-running dispute between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over control of oil exports and revenue sharing.
Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Iraq’s Kirkuk crude oil flows to Türkiye’s Ceyhan port resumed on Friday after a brief halt.
Iraq’s Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani earlier said the country’s crude production had fallen to about 1.4 million barrels per day, less than one-third of its output before the Iran war began.
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