OIL: SOMO Expects Kirkuk-Ceyhan Pipeline to Resume Soon

Crude oil exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan are expected to resume as a test soon, a SOMO source told Kurdistan24.

• Officials from Iraq’s SOMO, the KRG and the Turkish state pipeline company BOTAS have held a series of meetings in recent days in Turkey and Erbil to discuss technical and commercial issues related to bringing the pipeline back online according to four officials familiar with the matter.
• The source did not give a definitive date for the resumption of the oil flow.
• Topics of discussion in the three-way meetings have included pipeline fees, oil export quality and quantity, minimum throughputs, re-export cargoes, and the obligations of both sides around a reopening, the officials said.
• Last week, the US Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa and other senior officials have emphasized the urgency of reopening the pipeline as soon as possible during a meeting with Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.
• Turkey’s Energy Minister said mid-September, the country is nearing the completion of the earthquake damage assessment of the pipeline and the country is planning to start operations soon.