Iraq Asks Kurdistan Regional Government to Open Pipeline to Türkiye as Southern Oil Exports Collapse

Bosphorus News Energy Desk

Iraq's oil ministry has sent a formal request to the Kurdistan Regional Government asking it to allow at least 100,000 barrels per day of Kirkuk crude to flow through the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, two oil officials familiar with the matter told industry media. The request was sent early last week. Neither the oil ministry nor the KRG has publicly confirmed the exchange.

What Baghdad has confirmed is the scale of the damage. Oil Ministry spokesperson Saheb Bazoun told AFP that Iraq's oil sector had been severely affected by the disruption to Gulf shipping and that the government had no choice but to seek alternative export routes. He added that several Iraqi oil shipments were currently stranded at sea.

Output from Iraq's main southern oilfields fell by roughly 70 percent to around 1.3 million barrels per day by March 8, down from 4.3 million, as tanker transit through the Strait of Hormuz effectively ground to a halt. Kirkuk fields are currently producing around 350,000 barrels per day, all of it directed to domestic refineries including the Baiji plant in the north.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has been dormant since early March after international energy companies reduced output as a precautionary measure, with production dropping to around 50,000 barrels per day reserved for local use.

The KRG has set conditions for any restart. A senior Kurdish official told industry media that no oil would flow through the pipeline without immediate relief on dollar transfer restrictions, which Erbil describes as a near-total embargo on the region's access to US currency, as well as security guarantees for international oil companies operating in Kurdistan. Baghdad has historically treated Kurdish autonomy over international commerce as a red line.

Iraq relies on crude oil revenues for around 90 percent of its government budget. Before the war, the country exported more than 3.5 million barrels per day.