BAGHDAD: Oil exports from Iraq’s Kurdish region to Turkey slipped to an average of 327,371 barrels per day (bpd) in March, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s ministry of natural resources said on Sunday, due to a pipeline outage and the suspension of flows from Kirkuk.
Flows through the pipeline, which carries crude from fields in the Kurdistan region and Kirkuk to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, resumed on March 12, after a three-week outage that put acute strain on the region’s revenues.
But Iraq’s state-run North Oil Company then suspended exports from the fields it operates in the Kirkuk area to pressure the Kurds into resuming talks over revenue sharing, reducing exports by 150,000 bpd.
Although exports fell, revenues rose to $557.3 million, boosted by $350 million in loans and prepayments. Of that, $150 million was loaned by an unidentified foreign government and $200 was paid in advance by a buyer, the statement said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government allocated $36 million in revenue to oil producers and made a payment of $4.35 million to British water infrastructure company Biwater Ltd, which has won a contract in the region, the statement added.
