Iraq’s government will consider selling crude exports through Iran, if the country’s negotiations with the autonomous Kurdish region on an oil revenue-sharing agreement fail, according to Reuters.
Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) plans to hold talks with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), possibly early September, about Iraqi oil exported through Turkey, wrote Ahram Online.
Iraqi Deputy Oil Minister, Fayadh Al-Nema, said: “if the negotiations come to a close without an agreement, we will start to find a way in order to sell our oil because we need money, either to Iran or other countries.”
However, in June, a spokesperson for KRG, Safeen Dizayee, mentioned in that the Kurds are ready to strike an agreement with Baghdad if it guarantees a monthly revenue of $1b, double the current intake from selling their domestically produced oil.
Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, depends on oil sales for 95% of its public income. Its economy is reeling under the double impact of low oil prices and political unrest.
The Kurdistan region produces around 500,000b/d on its territory and exports those volumes via Turkey. Baghdad would not be able to reroute those volumes to Iran but could order shipments of some 150,000b/d via Iran that are being produced in the nearby province of Kirkuk.
