A worker walks down the stairs of an oil tank at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, which is run by state-owned Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS), some 70 km (43.5 miles) from Adana February 19, 2014. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
LONDON: Oil exports from northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan remain at a standstill almost three weeks after an arbitration case ruled Ankara owed Baghdad compensation for unauthorised exports.
The March 23 arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Turkiye to pay Baghdad damages of US$1.5bil (RM6.6bil) for unauthorised exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.
In response, Turkiye halted the flows of 450,000 barrels per day.
It wants to negotiate the payment and resolve a second arbitration case regarding unauthorised flows since 2018 before it restarts them, according to sources.
Pipeline operators have yet to receive any instruction to restart flows, a source familiar with the exports told Reuters on Friday on condition of anonymity.
Two other sources told Reuters that Baghdad has yet to request Turkiye reopens the pipeline.
“Anything regarding the resumption of oil flows now is in the hands of Baghdad and Turkiye, both sides have to reach an agreement to restart flows,” said Lawk Ghafuri, head of foreign media affairs for the KRG.Turkiye is seeking in-person negotiations relating to the US$1.5bil (RM6.6bil) it was ordered to pay Iraq in damages, a separate source told Reuters.
Iraq’s state-owned marketer Somo is waiting to finalise some technical issues essential to restarting flows with the KRG’s ministry of natural resources, two Iraqi oil officials told Reuters.
Iraq’s federal government in Baghdad and the KRG on April 4 signed a temporary agreement hoping to get the flows restarted. — Reuters
