TURKEY-IRAQ/OIL Iraqi Kurdistan oil supplies to Turkey port to increase - minister
Record ID:
344613
TURKEY-IRAQ/OIL Iraqi Kurdistan oil supplies to Turkey port to increase - minister
- Title: TURKEY-IRAQ/OIL Iraqi Kurdistan oil supplies to Turkey port to increase - minister
- Date: 18th January 2015
- Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JANUARY 18, 2015) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** IRAQ'S FOREIGN MINISTER, IBRAHIM AL-JAAFARI, TALKING TO TURKISH ENERGY MINISTER TANER YILDIZ VARIOUS OF JAAFARI AND YILDIZ DURING TALKS CAMERAMEN FILMING YILDIZ DURING NEWS CONFERENCE WITH JAAFARI (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH ENERGY MINISTER, TANER YILDIZ, SAYING: "Currently between 425,000-450,000 barrels of Iraq's oil a day is flowing into Ceyhan port via Kirkuk pipeline. During our meeting in Baghdad, we have agreed with Baghdad to reach 550,000 barrels per day." YILDIZ DURING NEWS CONFERENCE WITH IRAQ'S FOREIGN MINISTER JAAFARI (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH ENERGY MINISTER, TANER YILDIZ, SAYING: "Officials from SOMO (Iraq's Oil Marketing Company) are monitoring quantities of oil flowing into Ceyhan port per day and also oil shipment departing Ceyhan port. There are officials from SOMO who are monitoring and registering information. We are dealing with transparency in this issue and we are sending all the receipts of bank transfer to Baghdad on a daily basis." YILDIZ DURING NEWS CONFERENCE / JAAFARI AND YALDIZ SHAKING HANDS AND LEAVING
- Embargoed: 2nd February 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAF1CE6LPDS9H6FH2Z1HGZLN7K2
- Story Text: Turkey and Iraq have agreed to increase the supply of oil from the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Ceyhan port, the Turkish energy minister said on Sunday (January 18).
Iraq's northern export route, the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, has been damaged and segments of it have fallen under the control of Islamic State militants, rendering it unusable.
Taner Yildiz said that around 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iraqi oil were currently flowing into his country's Ceyhan port.
"We have agreed with Baghdad to reach 550,000 barrels per day," Yildiz told a news conference in Baghdad.
The Turkish Minister said officials from Iraq's state-run Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) were monitoring oil flowing into storage tanks at Ceyhan.
"Officials from SOMO are monitoring quantities of oil flowing into Ceyhan port per day and also oil shipment departing Ceyhan port. There are officials from SOMO who are monitoring and registering information. We are dealing with transparency in this issue and we are sending all the receipts of bank transfer to Baghdad on a daily basis," Yildiz said.
After years of a bitter feud, Iraqi Kurds and the central government in Baghdad struck in November a deal in which Kurds agreed to give half - or 150,000 bpd - of their overall oil shipments to the federal government in exchange for Baghdad paying overdue civil servants' salaries.
Many analysts have said the only viable option for Baghdad to sell its oil via the north was to use the Kurdish-built pipeline.
According to Iraq's Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, the 150,000 bpd included some oil from Kirkuk fields.
Iraq's oil-rich Kirkuk region is home to several oil domes.
Kurds seized fresh territory in June around Kirkuk after Iraqi government forces fled while fighting militants from Islamic State, an al-Qaeda offshoot which has seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
Bai Hassan field and Avana dome have since then been under the control of Kurds, who allocated the production from those regions to refineries for domestic consumption, which in turn allowed them to boost their pumping via Turkey. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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