Negotiations between Ankara, Baghdad and Erbil over the transfer of Kirkuk crude oil to Turkey's Ceyhan port are still ongoing, the Iraqi oil minister said on Monday.
"Talks between the federal government, Kurdistan region and the Turkish side continue for resuming exports of Kirkuk’s oil through Ceyhan," according to Oil Minister Jabbar Ali Al-Luiebi's interview with the semi-official Al Sabaah newspaper.
He said no exact date has been scheduled yet for the start of crude oil exports via Turkey.
Luiebi also confirmed the current production from Kirkuk stands at 220,000 barrels per day, adding that, "production is totally transferred to local refineries in the country".
In addition, oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said that if the parties reach an agreement, crude oil exports could restart via pipeline from Iraq’s Kurdish region to Turkey's Ceyhan port. Production from Kirkuk’s fields halted in June 2014, when Daesh forces took over the Mosul province and a third of Iraq.
In October 2017, Iraq announced that crude oil could be exported with the help of an additional line in the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline with a million barrel daily oil transfer capacity. However, the building of the pipeline has not yet started. Kirkuk is known as Iraq's second oil rich province after Basra.
(Anadolu Agency, 02/07/2018)
