BAGHDAD, February 27. /TASS/. The governments of Iraq and the Kurdistan region succeeded in reaching an agreement and resolving differences in the oil sector, which will allow the resumption of Russian oil projects in the region that had been put on hold, Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov told reporters.
"We have received very important information, we have been assured by [Foreign] Minister [of Iraq Fuad Hussein] and Prime Minister [Mohammed Shia al-Sudani] that all issues related to differences between the federal government and Kurdistan have been settled. For us, it is very important as our companies operate in this region and much has been invested in projects. However, due to disagreements between the federal government and Kurdistan, those projects had been suspended," he said following the meeting of the Russian-Iraqi intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation.
"Today, the minister and prime minister confirmed that the differences have been resolved, and the projects will resume operations literally in the near future," the minister added.
Oil deliveries through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline were suspended in March 2023 after Iraq won an international court case against Turkey filed in 2014, where it argued that the Turkish state-owned oil and gas company Botas had no authorization from the Iraqi government to carry out shipments.
On February 17, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani announced that oil exports from Kurdistan could recommence as early as the following week. Iraqi Kurdistan officials confirmed that the hurdles to the supplies had been removed, adding that deliveries could begin by the end of March, Kurdistan’s Rudaw television channel reported.