ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Minister of Natural Resources Kamal Mohammed Salih announced that four million barrels of oil from the Kurdistan Region have been stored and marketed at Turkey’s Ceyhan port.

During a meeting with French Consul General in Erbil Yann Braem on Sunday, Salih discussed the ongoing efforts to fully restart oil exports from the region, according to a statement from the ministry.

The French envoy praised the tripartite agreement between Iraq’s Federal Ministry of Oil, the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Natural Resources, and the state oil marketer SOMO, describing it as a key step toward restoring energy cooperation.

Salih expressed appreciation for France’s support in facilitating dialogue and reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to implementing the agreement.

He emphasized that communication between the federal and regional oil authorities remains “good and continuous,” adding that the current storage at Ceyhan reflects practical coordination on the ground.

The meeting highlighted France’s role in backing Iraq-Kurdistan energy cooperation, as both sides aim to stabilize oil flows critical to the Region’s economy and the federal budget.

Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline resumed in September, ending an 18-month halt that cost Iraq an estimated $30 billion in lost revenue.

The restart followed a breakthrough tripartite agreement between Erbil, Baghdad, and international oil companies, under which the Kurdistan Region will now deliver all crude produced from its fields to Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) for export via Turkey’s Ceyhan port, except for quantities needed for domestic consumption.

The suspension began in March 2023, after an arbitration court in Paris ruled that Turkey had violated a 1973 pipeline deal by allowing Erbil to sell oil independently.