By Summer Said

Erbil, in Iraq's Kurdish region, and Baghdad have reached an agreement to export Iraqi oil through the Kurdistan Region to Turkey's port at Ceyhan, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said Tuesday.

"Given the extraordinary circumstances facing the country, and the responsibility we all share to get through this difficult chapter, we have decided to allow oil to flow through the Kurdistan Region's pipeline as soon as possible," Barzani said on X.

Discussions with Baghdad will continue on lifting an embargo on Kurdish traders and securing guarantees for oil and gas companies so they can safely resume production, he said.

Kurdish authorities had previously rejected Baghdad's earlier request that the Kurdistan region restart exports of around 300,000 barrels of oil a day through the pipeline linking the northern part of Iraq to Turkey's Ceyhan port. They argued that Baghdad needed to lift restrictions on its access to U.S. dollars, imposed through a new customs system, which the Kurds say amounts to an economic blockade of the region.

Iraq has cut crude production to just more than 1 million barrels a day from about 4.2 million barrels a day after exports through the Strait of Hormuz were effectively halted by the war in the Middle East.

Most of Iraq's crude production is in the south and is usually exported from the Basra terminals and shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. Northern exports of around 200,000 barrels a day piped to Ceyhan were suspended earlier this month on security grounds.

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March 17, 2026 16:11 ET (20:11 GMT)

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