Oil Prices Rise As The Conflict Between Iraq And Kurdistan Intensifies

Oil prices have increased this week as a result of an escalating energy dispute between the Iraqi government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which also affects Turkey.

While Kurdish oil flows are still being blocked for the fourth day in a row, Brent crude is getting closer to $80 and WTI was trading above $73 per barrel at the time of writing.

Once the conflict erupted last week, the Iraqi government halted oil supplies from Kurdistan to Turkey. The blockade came after a court decision in favour of Baghdad in a dispute against Turkey that asserted that later should not have let the oil flow from Kurdistan to Ceyhan without the express authority of the government in Baghdad. The case was brought by the International Chamber of Commerce.

Initially, Turkey declared that it would follow the court’s ruling, but last week, the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources issued a statement stating that the court had really decided that Iraq should pay Turkey for breaching a bilateral oil export agreement.

The Turkish government claimed that the ICC had upheld the majority of Turkey’s claims while rejecting four of Iraq’s five complaints against it.

On average, Kurdistan exports 400,000 bpd via the pipeline that links Turkey and Iraq. The semi-autonomous area’s authority is presently debating the next steps with Baghdad, but no consensus has been reached.

The resumed oil shipments from Kurdistan have Iraq’s strong support, but it has been hinted that it would only agree to it on its terms. In accordance with these rules, SOMO, Iraq’s state oil corporation, instead of the Kurdish government, will be in charge of exports.

A spokesperson for the Iraqi oil ministry told Rudaw on Tuesday that SOMO was “the greatest option for oil to get transported and for the Kurdish Region to collect its part.”

These are merely the most recent incidents in a protracted conflict between the regional authority in Kurdistan and the administration in Baghdad over ownership of the region’s oil resources.