Discussions to restart Iraqi oil exports via a crude oil pipeline that runs through Türkiye are still underway, an Iraqi oil official told Reuters, one day after Türkiye said operations would resume again this week following a near six-month stoppage.
"We have further meetings soon and things will be more clear on how serious is Türkiye to show some flexibility," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic.
Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Monday that Türkiye would resume operating the pipeline this week while speaking on a panel at the ADIPEC energy conference in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi.
Iraq has not made an official comment on the matter.
The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries almost half a million barrels of crude a day, has been offline since March after Ankara halted flows after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion over what it said were unauthorized exports by Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.
Türkiye, on the other hand, said the ICC had recognized most of Ankara’s demands. The Energy Ministry said the chamber ordered Iraq to compensate Türkiye for several violations concerning the case.
Ankara later started maintenance work on the 970-kilometer-long (602.7-miles-long) pipeline that contributes about 0.5% of global crude supply in the wake of major February earthquakes. Baghdad and Ankara agreed to wait until a maintenance assessment on the pipeline, which goes through a seismic zone, was complete to restart flows while still engaging in a legal battle on arbitration awards.
"We’re still in the middle of ongoing talks and predicting when oil flow could be resumed depends on how positive the results will be around sticking issues," the official said, adding: "Also if Türkiye is willing to hold off on its demands and allow oil exports to restart without setting preconditions."
Sources have told Reuters that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is likely to visit Baghdad in October to resolve the issue.
In April, Iraq petitioned a U.S. federal court to enforce the ICC arbitration award.
Ankara is seeking a halt to this U.S. litigation and a lack of progress on resolving this issue was one of the reasons behind the postponement of a planned August visit by Erdoğan, sources have said.
