Baghdad and Erbil reach deal to restart oil exports through Turkey

Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed a temporary agreement on Tuesday to restart oil exports through Turkey, as part of efforts for a broader deal to end longstanding disputes.

Turkey stopped pumping about 450,000 barrels per day of Iraqi crude through a pipeline from the Fish-Khabur border area to its Ceyhan port on March 25 after Iraq won an arbitration case at the International Chamber of Commerce.

Baghdad had said Turkey violated a joint agreement by allowing the KRG to export oil to Ceyhan without its consent.

KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani traveled to Baghdad on Tuesday to finalize the agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani.

"The recent disruptions to oil exports from the Kurdistan Region have hurt the country as a whole. This agreement brings much needed revenues," Barzani said in a statement.

Under the deal, Iraq's state-owned marketing company SOMO will have the authority to market and export KRG oil and the revenues will be deposited in an account at the Iraqi Central Bank under the control of the KRG, two Iraqi officials said.

Baghdad will have access to audit the account.

"Everyone must abide by this agreement and implement it," Sudani said in a joint news briefing with Barzani.

He said the deal was temporary until the budget law passes in parliament, which he said "will cover all obligations and solve all problems."

"We now have a framework for a draft budget law and, in the near future, discussions can begin on a new federal oil and gas law," Barzani said in his statement.