Technical talks signal potential progress on Iraq-Turkey Pipeline

Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdulghani (left) and Turkish Energy Minister Arparslan Bayraktar (right) meet in Ankara on Aug. 22, 2023. (Photo credit: Oil Ministry)

ISTANBUL – A flurry of technical meetings between Turkish and Iraqi officials in recent days suggests there is revived momentum in negotiations to reopen the Iraq-Turkey oil export pipeline.

Officials from Iraq’s state oil marketing company (SOMO), the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and the Turkish state pipeline company BOTAS have held a series of meetings in recent days in Turkey and Erbil to discuss technical and commercial issues related to bringing the pipeline back online after a six-month outage, according to four officials familiar with the matter.

Topics of discussion in the three-way meetings have included pipeline fees, oil export quality and quantity, minimum throughputs, re-export cargoes, and the obligations of both sides around a reopening, the officials said.