ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A high-level Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation on Sunday held meetings with relevant Iraqi authorities in Baghdad, mainly focused on resuming Kurdish oil exports, with sources telling The New Region that “good progress” has been made.

The delegation held meetings with representatives from the Iraqi oil ministry, finance ministry, Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), and other relevant authorities, according to the sources. Representatives from international oil companies (IOCs) operating in the Kurdistan Region were reportedly also present at the meetings.

The sources told The New Region that they expect an agreement on the issue of Kurdish oil exports to be reached during Monday’s meetings barring any last minute changes.

According to the expected agreement, the KRG would hand over around 300,000 barrels of oil to SOMO to be exported through the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline, with an additional 100,000 barrels for domestic use.

In return, Baghdad is set to reimburse Erbil for the production and transportation cost of the oil at the rate of $16 per barrel.

Exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil through the Turkish Ceyhan pipeline were halted in March 2023 after Ankara lost a case against Baghdad in a Paris-based arbitration court. The case accused Ankara of breaching a 1973 agreement by allowing the KRG to start selling oil independent of Baghdad.

Domestic revenues remain a contentious point during the discussions, as Baghdad has demanded the handover of 50 percent of all oil and non-oil revenues from the Kurdistan Region. In return, the KRG has demanded the federal government sends the Region’s financial entitlements on a monthly basis, in accordance with the budget law.

In late May, the Iraqi finance ministry informed the KRG that it will suspend funding the Region for the rest of 2025, claiming that Erbil had already exhausted its share of the annual budget. Baghdad’s decision, deemed “a political decision” by Kurdish authorities, jeopardizes the livelihoods of the Region’s over one million salaried workers for eight months.

Sherwan Dubardani, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) member in the Iraqi parliament, told The New Region that the Iraqi Council of Ministers is set to decide on financing the Kurdistan Region’s civil servant salaries during its Tuesday meeting.

Dubardani described the meetings as “positive”, stating that good progress has been made.

A technical delegation from the Iraqi federal government arrived in the Kurdistan Region’s capital Erbil on Thursday to discuss the ongoing salary issues between Erbil and Baghdad as well as disputes over the Region’s oil exports. Another high-level delegation from the federal government is set to visit Erbil in the coming days to address the issues and seek more durable solutions.