Anticipation of a US decision against Türkiye requiring it to pay $602 million to Iraq

The “Iraq Oil Report” website disclosed a fresh development on Saturday regarding Iraqi Kurdistan Region oil exports to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

According to the website, “Iraq is moving forward with its attempt to enforce a major arbitration award against Turkey, in order for an American court to issue a ruling worth $601.9 million in favor of Iraq.”

“The current Iraqi step is a hint that Baghdad and Ankara do not appear to be near to the sort of political agreement required to restore the Kurdistan Region’s oil export pipeline, via Turkey,” he added, “despite a wave of technical negotiations in mid-September, which were… “We are moving towards resuming export operations.”

This comes only days after the United States promised to continue working with all parties involved to reopen the oil pipeline between Iraq and Turkey in the near future.

On September 15, Turkish Energy Minister Alp Arslan Bayrakdar declared that the oil pipeline from the Kurdistan Region to the port of Ceyhan had been inspected and that it will be “technically” ready for operation soon.

Turkey halted flows through the Kurdistan Region pipeline on March 25, following a ruling in an arbitration case issued by the International Chamber of Commerce ordering Ankara to pay compensation to Baghdad due to the export of oil through the Kurdistan Region without referring to the federal government between… Years 2014 and 2018.

Following that decision, Turkey began repair work on the pipeline, which runs through a seismically active area and was allegedly damaged by floods caused by the terrible earthquake that devastated the southern region on February 6.

It is worth noting that the Kurdistan Region Oil Industry Association announced late last August that stopping exports to the Turkish port of Ceyhan had cost producers and the Iraqi government approximately $4 billion in losses, as producers in the region had been forced to reduce production since the pipeline’s shutdown.