Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Seeks Formal Deal With Kurds to Protect New Oil Exports

Aug 25, 2016 | Sam Wilin and Khalid Al Ansary, Bloomberg
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Iraq’s resumption last week of oil shipments through a Kurdish-controlled pipeline bumped up its export capacity by five percent almost overnight. Now OPEC’s second-biggest producer is seeking a formal deal with the self-ruling Kurds to ensure it can maintain the increased flows. The central government in Baghdad has been locked in a dispute with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in the north of Iraq since 2014, when the Kurds began selling their oil independently. In March, Iraq’s state-run North Oil Co. stopped using its only export route, the KRG’s pipeline to Turkey, for crude it pumped in Kirkuk province. The Oil Ministry ordered a restoration of these exports last week.