ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil from the Iraq-Turkey pipeline finally resumed Saturday following a breakthrough tripartite deal between Erbil, Baghdad, and international oil companies (IOCs) and some $30 billion in losses. 

A milestone tripartite agreement was reached on Thursday whereby the Kurdistan Region will deliver “all crude oil” produced from its fields to Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) to be exported through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, apart from quantities allocated for domestic use.

The Kurdistan Region’s oil exports through Turkey’s Ceyhan port have been halted since March 2023, when a Paris-based arbitration court ruled that Ankara had breached a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to start selling oil independently in 2014, awarding the case to Baghdad. 

Erbil and Baghdad had since announced several agreements to resume exports, but the process had been blocked due to international oil producers demanding payment surety, transparent implementation of Iraq’s budget law stipulations, and resolution of payments that are in arrears before resuming their work. 

On Wednesday, oil firms party to the tripartite agreement said that “the agreed framework maintains the sanctity of existing contracts and provides surety of payment to the IOCs.” 

The breakthrough deal was hailed by both Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani as “historic.” 

The first export of oil was sent through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline at 7 am Erbil time on Saturday.