DNO, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, has been instructed by the Kurdistan Regional Government to temporarily cease deliveries of oil to the Iraq-Turkey pipeline for export, following an arbitration ruling in favor of Iraq against Turkey and its state-owned pipeline operator BOTAS for transporting Kurdish oil without prior approval from Baghdad. Details of the ruling have not been released.
DNO began diverting oil production from its operated Kurdistan fields to storage tanks on 25 March 2023; these tanks can accommodate several days’ production from the Tawke and Peshkabir fields. DNO notes from public reports that authorities in Ankara, Baghdad and Erbil are in discussion to reach agreements that will allow oil exports to resume through the pipeline to the port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. Prior to the shutdown, the pipeline carried some 400,000 barrels a day of Kurdish oil and another 70,000 barrels a day of Iraqi oil to global markets.
Source: DNO
