Russian oil companies are set to restart their oil projects in Kurdistan after the semi-autonomous region and the Iraqi federal government resolved their long-standing disputes over oil production and exports, according to Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev.
“We received crucial information from the Iraqi authorities, and both the minister and prime minister confirmed that the disagreements between the federal government and the Kurdistan government have been resolved,” Tsivilev said on Thursday.
He emphasized that this development is vital for Russia, as Russian companies had previously entered Kurdistan, signed agreements with the Kurdistan government, and invested in oil fields in the region.
These projects were halted due to the disagreements between Iraq’s federal government and Kurdistan’s semi-autonomous authorities. However, with the resolution of the disputes, Russia has been assured that “everything has been worked out” and that “these projects will begin operations in the near future,” Tsivilev added after a meeting of an Iraqi-Russian trade and cooperation commission.
Rosneft and Gazprom Neft were among the Russian companies involved in the oil projects in Kurdistan prior to the disruptions.
With the disputes now settled, Kurdistan is on the brink of resuming oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.
Iraq’s Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani recently announced that Iraq and Kurdistan expect to complete all necessary work to resume oil exports by the end of March, following a two-year hiatus caused by a dispute over authority regarding crude exports.
Oil exports from Kurdistan have been halted since March 2023 due to the disagreement over who should have the authority to approve Kurdish exports.
The resumption of these exports would contribute around 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the global oil supply, although it remains unclear how much of this will be allocated to international markets and how much will be reserved for domestic use in Iraq.
