RBIL, Kurdistan Region - Oil producers in the Kurdistan Region on Saturday denied claims by Baghdad officials that an agreement has been reached to resume the Region’s oil exports.
In a statement, the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) denied “claims by Government of Iraq (GoI) officials that an agreement has been reached among the GoI, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and international oil companies (IOCs) to resume oil exports through the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline (ITP).”
APIKUR said that they are yet to receive any proposals from Erbil or Baghdad to strike an agreement that would facilitate the reopening of the pipeline.
“We do not understand the motivation for such misinformation but note that Iraq is reportedly losing $1 billion for each month that ITP remains closed,” added the statement.
The statement came hours after Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told Bloomberg that Baghdad may amend its budget to pay recovery and transit fees to the IOCs in a bid to restart oil exports.