Turkey, Iraq strike tentative oil deal

ANKARA, Turkey (UPI) — Turkish officials say meetings with Iraqi leaders last week included new oil export deals with Baghdad, bypassing Iraqi Kurds.

Turkey threatened to stop exporting needed fuel products to Iraq after Baghdad told Ankara it would have to deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government regarding shipments. Kurdistan, like the rest of Iraq, faces a shortage of transportation, cooking and heating fuels.


“Iraqis clearly understood that it is not possible for them to meet their needs of oil products without Turkey,” Turkish State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said after the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Organization said it would retake control over shipment negotiations.

Tuzmen said the two sides struck a tentative one-year deal to exchange crude for oil products. The northern Iraq pipeline no longer works, having been bombed each time it begins operation, and Ankara would retrieve the oil via tanker.

UPI