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Iraq aims to more than double crude oil flows through the newly reopened Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline by next year, according to an official at state oil marketer SOMO.
The reopening of the pipeline comes against a backdrop of rising global supplies as OPEC producers boost output to gain market share.
Iraq, meanwhile, has come under U.S. pressure to resume its Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) oil flows as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to cut Iranian oil exports to zero under a maximum pressure campaign against Tehran.
SOMO is aiming for 400,000 to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2026, Rikan Kareem said on Tuesday at a conference in London. Pipeline flows were running at 150,000-160,000 bpd on Monday after reopening on Sept. 27.
Companies that are owed oil under previous prepayment deals with the KRG, which is no longer marketing the crude after SOMO took over, will be given priority for cargo allocations, Kareem said.
Oil tanker Vallesina has been booked to load 700,000 barrels of KRG crude at Türkiye’s Ceyhan port on Thursday, two industry sources said on Tuesday.
It will be the first tanker to load KRG crude since the resumption of flows from the region to Türkiye.
Exports had been halted following an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that Türkiye is appealing.
The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad $1.5 billion in damages over what it said were unauthorized exports by the KRG between 2014 and 2018.
Türkiye, on the other hand, said the ICC had recognized most of Ankara’s demands.
In July, Ankara submitted a draft proposal to Baghdad to renew and broaden an energy agreement between the two countries to cover cooperation in oil, gas, petrochemicals and electricity.
The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), which represents international oil firms in the Iraqi region, estimated the losses to Iraq since the pipeline closed to be more than $35 billion.
Iraq is a founding member of OPEC, and crude oil sales make up 90% of the country’s revenues.
The resumption of KRG oil flows will raise Iraq’s exports to nearly 3.6 million bpd in the coming days, according to officials.
