Iraq starts oil exports from Kurdistan

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq started exporting oil from its largely autonomous Kurdistan region for the first time on Wednesday, Iraq’s Oil Ministry said, in an apparent breakthrough after years of deadlock over disputed Kurdish oil contracts.

Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said the ministry started shipping the crude from the Tawke field, in which Norway’s DNO International

“We finished linking the pipelines from the Tawke oilfield to the strategic Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline and have installed the meters. We started … pumping 10,000 barrels per day to boost exports to … Ceyhan,” Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said.

News that exports had started, despite a row between Iraq’s central government and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) over oil contracts the KRG signed with foreign firms, caused DNO’s shares to surge 4 percent before settling up 2.8 percent.

Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said those contracts are illegal. Baghdad also insists oil deals with foreign firms should be fixed-fee service contracts, not production sharing contracts of the type signed by the KRG.

Reuters