Iraq to punish Turkey, KRG for unauthorized oil exports

The Iraqi oil minister says Baghdad will punish Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for oil transactions without Baghdad’s consent.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Abdul Kareem Luaibi said Baghdad is preparing legal action against Ankara over what he called “oil smuggling” and “a clear violation” of a bilateral agreement governing the export of Iraqi oil through Turkey.

The Iraqi minister warned that Baghdad will consider boycotting all Turkish companies and cancelling all contracts with Turkish firms if the oil exports go ahead.

He said the issue is “dangerous” as it deals with the independence and unity of Iraq and that Turkey’s permission for oil from the region amounts to “meddling in the division of Iraq,” which he called a red line.

Luaibi said the Iraqi government will also blacklist any companies dealing with oil piped to Turkey from the Iraqi Kurdistan region without permission from Baghdad.

Iraqi Kurds and the central government in Baghdad have been in a long-running dispute over the control of oil exports in the semi-autonomous northern region.

On January 8, the Kurdistan region’s Natural Resources Ministry announced that its first shipment of crude oil, exported directly to Turkey, had gone on sale.

It said the flow of oil to Turkey began in early January through a pipeline which carries the oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, adding that more shipments to Turkey are expected to follow in the near future.

Kurdish authorities also invited companies to take part in a January tender for the two million barrels deposited in the Turkish port.