BAGHDAD: Iraq will restart the export of oil from its Kurdish region to Turkiye after an interruption of more than two years, following what Prime Minister Shia Al-Sudani called a historic agreement between Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government.
Under the agreement, Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO will export the crude from Kurdish oil fields through a pipeline to Turkiye. The Kurdistan Regional Government said on X that oil exports will resume within 48 hours after the tripartite agreement between Iraq’s oil ministry, the KRG ministry of natural resources and producing companies.
Flows through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline had been shut since March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Turkiye to pay Iraq $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized exports by the Kurdish regional authorities.
The Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement it had reached an agreement to deliver all crude from Kurdistan fields, except volumes for local use, to SOMO for export via the pipeline to Ceyhan. The ministry did not specify when flows would restart. Eight oil companies operating in Iraqi Kurdistan, representing over 90 percent of production, reached agreements in principle on Wednesday with Iraq’s federal and regional governments to resume exports.
Before the exports were suspended, Iraq was shipping about 230,000 barrels per day through the pipeline.
Turkiye is appealing the order to compensate Iraq, which led to the pipeline being shut, but says it is ready to restart the pipeline.
Iraqi PM confirms agreement with Kurdish region to resume oil exports
https://arab.news/9bup3
Iraqi PM confirms agreement with Kurdish region to resume oil exports
- Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO will export the crude from Kurdish oil fields through a pipeline to Turkiye
- The Kurdistan Regional Government said on X that oil exports will resume within 48 hours
Dozen people entered Egypt from Gaza on first day of Rafah opening: source
- The reopening, demanded by the UN and aid groups, is a key part of the second phase of Trump’s truce plan for Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain dire after two years of war
RAFAH: A handful of injured Palestinians and their companions entered Egypt from Gaza on Monday, the first day of a limited reopening of the Rafah border crossing, a source on the Egyptian side of the border told AFP.
“Five injured people and seven companions” crossed the border, the source said on Tuesday.
The reopening, demanded by the United Nations and aid groups, is a key part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s truce plan for Gaza, where humanitarian conditions remain dire after two years of war.
The number of patients allowed to enter Egypt through the crossing was limited to 50 on Monday, each accompanied by two companions, according to three officials at the Egyptian border.
An Egyptian health official told AFP on Monday that three ambulances had arrived with Palestinian patients who were screened upon arrival to determine which hospital to be taken to.
AlQahera News, citing Egypt’s health ministry, reported that 150 hospitals and 300 ambulances had been prepared to receive Palestinian patients.
It said 12,000 doctors and 30 rapid deployment teams had been allocated to work with those transferred.
The director of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, said there were 20,000 patients in the territory in urgent need of treatment, including 4,500 children.
There was no official announcement of the number of people who returned to Gaza via the crossing.
AFP images on Monday showed empty buses crossing back to Egypt after transporting Palestinians to Gaza earlier in the day.
The partial resumption of operations at the crossing comes after Israeli forces seized control of the gateway to Egypt in May 2024 during the war with Hamas.
Gaza’s civil defense reported dozens killed in a wave of Israeli strikes over the weekend, in what the military said was retaliation for Palestinian fighters exiting a tunnel in Rafah city.
Ali Shaath, the head of a Palestinian technocratic committee established to oversee the day-to-day governance of Gaza, said Rafah’s reopening offered a “window of hope” for the territory.
