Iraq's state oil marketer SOMO asks Turkey to resume oil exports via Ceyhan

Erbil, Bagdad awaiting Turkish response: KRG

Kurdish, Iraqi prime ministers agree on resumption

Since March 25, more than 450,000 b/d in Iraqi exports are offline

Iraq's SOMO has asked Turkey's state-owned Botas, the operator of Ceyhan terminal, to resume exports from the semiautonomous Kurdistan region on May 13, the country's oil minister said, as Erbil and Baghdad seek to restart northern output suspended since March 25.

Iraq's Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani confirmed that Baghdad has informed the Turkish authorities about resuming exports via Ceyhan on May 13, the minister said in a statement.

The Kurdistan Regional Government said May 11 that oil ministries in Erbil and Baghdad were waiting for Turkish response to SOMO's request to restart exports from Ceyhan, which handled more than 450,000 b/d from its neighbor before suspension on March 25.

Botas cannot "comment on this issue," a spokesperson told S&P Global Commodity Insights.

An official at Turkey's energy minister couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

Temporary deal

More than 450,000 b/d of production of Kurdish Bend Test from the semiautonomous region's fields and Kirkuk grade from federal fields are offline after Turkey halted exports via Ceyhan in the wake of an international court ruling.

The prime ministers of Kurdistan and Iraq agreed to a temporary deal April 4 to resume oil exports through Ceyhan, but despite many pledges of a quick restart, no crude has loaded since March 25.

For exports to resume, Ankara would also need to agree to reopen the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline, which has been shuttered as a result of the dispute.

Turkey is still inspecting the oil pipelines on its side before the resumption of oil exports, Abdul-Ghani said May 3.

Turkey, which goes to the polls on May 14 in twin presidential and parliamentary elections, imported 30.2% of its 2.017 million mt of crude from Iraq in February before the suspension in March.

Prior to the suspension, more than 450,000 b/d of Iraqi crude flowed into Ceyhan, with about 350,000-375,000 b/d of the exports coming from Kurdistan and the remaining 75,000-100,000 b/d of Kirkuk grade.

Baghdad claims its sovereign right to export all Iraqi oil is backed by an International Chamber of Commerce's International Court of Arbitration ruling March 23 that independent Kurdish exports through Ceyhan were in violation of a 1973 agreement between Iraq and Turkey. Iraq has tasked SOMO to handle the Kurdish crude marketing and sales, which were done independently by Kurdistan prior to the court ruling.

Legal action

SOMO has finalized agreements with international companies to buy and market Kurdish crude according to the state marketer's mechanisms, Abdul-Ghani said May 11.

Iraq's oil production in April fell by 290,000 b/d to 4.10 million b/d, the lowest in 20 months, due to the shutdown of a key pipeline to Ceyhan, according to the latest Platt survey by S&P Global.

Production in April was below the country's 4.431 million b/d quota, which dropped to 4.22 million b/d in May after it implemented voluntary oil output cuts, joining seven other OPEC+ members that are cutting on their own a combined 1.657 million b/d through the end of 2023.

These curbs are on top of the 23-member alliance's collective 2 million b/d cut that started in November and will be carried through to the end of 2023.

DNO, Genel Energy, UK-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum and other international oil companies operating in Kurdistan started to gradually turn off their spigots in March as Ankara implemented the court ruling.

Gulf Keystone, which produces most of its crude from Kurdistan, said April 27 that it was considering legal measures "to protect the company's interests" amid the continued suspension.