ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) produces 1.5 million liters of gasoline daily - half of its domestic needs - its natural resources minister told The New Region on Monday, noting that the oil Baghdad returns to the Region falls short of meeting domestic demand. 

Exports of crude oil from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline resumed in late September after a 30-month halt, following the signing of a breakthrough agreement between Erbil, Baghdad, and international oil companies operating in the Region. 

Kamal Mohammed, the Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Natural Resources, told The New Region that the 50,000 barrels that Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) returns to the Region for domestic consumption “does not meet the daily needs of the Kurdistan Region.” 

He explained that, according to the oil deal, Baghdad is obligated to compensate for petroleum products and provide subsidized fuel to the Kurdistan Region, but so far, it has not done so. 

“We have requested the Iraqi oil ministry several times to compensate for this shortage, but it has not responded to our request,” Mohammed said. “If we obtain that gasoline amount, we can distribute gasoline to all gas stations, and drivers waiting in line to receive subsidized government fuel will no longer remain [waiting in line].” 

The Kurdistan Region needs three million liters of gasoline daily, according to the minister. 

Per the Erbil-Baghdad oil agreement, the Kurdistan Region will deliver “all crude oil” produced from its fields to SOMO for export through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, apart from quantities allocated for domestic use.

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