No fall in KRG oil exports to Turkey

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq exported some 600,000 barrels of oil daily on average to Turkey last month, selling a total of 18 million barrels of crude from the autonomous region and neighboring Kirkuk.

All crude was sent to Turkey’s Ceyhan port in, the KRG’s natural resources ministry said in a report on Feb. 5.

• Some 14 million barrels of crude came from KRG fields, as the rest was produced in Kirkuk, which is now under the de facto control of the Peshmerga, the armed forces of the KRG.

The ministry announced in a previous report that the region also exported 18 million barrels of crude oil in December 2015, with 13 million barrels coming from the KRG fields and 5 million from Kirkuk.

The KRG and Iraqi central government have been at odds in recent years due to ongoing disputes over revenue sharing, the budget and the authority to export oil. Turkey remains a gateway for the KRG’s oil exports.

The KRG has been hit hard by plummeting oil prices and is facing a financial crisis, as many of the regional government’s employees have gone unpaid in previous months.
[Anadolu Agency -hurriyetdailynews.com]
5/2/16
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