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Genel Energy says Kurdish oil exports imminent

Genel Energy, led by former BP boss Tony Hayward , said Wednesday it expects oil from a pipeline in the Kurdish north of Iraq to be exported from Turkey soon. Genel said commissioning of independent pipeline infrastructure in the Kurdish north of Iraq is ongoing and “exports [are] expected to commence in the near future.” The Kurdistan Regional Government has already sent oil to a storage facility at the Turkish port of Ceyhan and Genel said deliveries should ramp up throughout 2014. Hayward said an energy agreement between the KRG and Turkey, coupled with the completion of the pipeline’s infrastructure, should lead to a rise in oil exports from his company’s Taq Taq and Tawke oil field in the Kurdish north. Genel said Taq Taq produced an average 77,000 barrels of oil per day and Tawke produced an average 39,000 barrels per day last […]

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Iraq: Maliki threatens Kurds if they export oil to Turkey

As if Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki didn’t have enough problems battling city-grabbing al-Qaida insurgents in western Iraq, his simmering faceoff with independence-minded Kurds in the north over their drive to export oil to neighboring Turkey looks like it’s about to boil over as well. The Kurdistan Regional Government, which runs the land-locked, semiautonomous Kurdish enclave that borders Turkey, says it started pumping crude from its oil fields directly to Turkey through a newly constructed pipeline to the export terminal at Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast in early January. That openly defied Baghdad, which has branded the operation bypassing the state oil export network as illegal. The only other export outlet for the Kurds is to the south through the Persian Gulf, but Baghdad controls the export terminals there. Maliki insists the central government has sole authority over Iraq’s massive energy resources, and declared the […]

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Bombings in Iraq striking markets, funeral kill 41

A wave of bombings across Iraq striking busy markets and a funeral north of Baghdad killed at least 41 people Wednesday, authorities said, as the country remains gripped by violence after al-Qaida-linked militants took control of two cities in western Anbar province. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Insurgent groups, mainly al-Qaida’s local branch and other Sunni militants, frequently target civilians in cafes and public areas, as well as Shiites and members of Iraqi security forces in an attempt to undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government and stir sectarian tensions. The deadliest attack struck a funeral in the town of Buhriz, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Baghdad. That bombing killed 16 people and wounded 26 inside of a mourning tent, a police officer said. The funeral was for an anti-al-Qaida Sunni militiaman who died of natural causes two days ago. […]

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Iraq threatens legal action over Kurdish oil sales

Iraq’s Oil Ministry threatened legal action against entities that receive oil from the northern Kurdish region, singling out a deal made with Turkey. The Turkish seaport of Ceyhan is set to receive the first oil from the Kurdish region of Iraq this month and the ministry said Sunday the move "is an avowed violation of the Iraqi constitution." The Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government in Iraq are at odds over who controls what aspects of the country’s oil sector, The central government took aim at its Turkish counterparts in particular, saying the oil sale would violate the spirit of regional agreements not to export crude oil from Iraq without the government’s consent, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.. The Kurdish government said last week it was inviting "reputable and financially capable companies" to register for crude oil sales. The first parcel […]

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Clashes Between Militants and Army Spread in Iraq

Sunni gunmen on Sunday took up position in the city of Falluja, Iraq, which residents have fled. Mohammed Jalil/European Pressphoto Agency BAGHDAD — A confrontation between Iraqi insurgents and government forces in the western city of Falluja edged closer to the capital on Sunday, after clashes between militants and the army left at least 14 people dead in the Abu Ghraib district in Baghdad Province, according to security officials. Separately, in Ramadi, another battleground in the western Anbar Province, militants captured and executed four members of an elite military unit, an official said. And in Baghdad, two car bombs exploded near bus stations, killing at least 14 civilians. The violence posed a further challenge to Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose government has struggled for a response after Sunni insurgents, including fighters linked to Al Qaeda, captured Falluja and parts of Ramadi almost two weeks ago. On Sunday, […]

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Iraq’s Maliki Threatens to Cut Funds If Kurds Pipe Oil to Turkey

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened on Sunday to cut Kurdistan’s share of the federal budget if the autonomous region exports oil to Turkey via a new pipeline without central government consent. The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow to Turkey and exports were expected to start at the end of this month and then rise in February and March. "This is a constitutional violation which we will never allow, not for the (Kurdistan) region nor for the Turkish government," Maliki told Reuters in an interview. He reiterated Baghdad’s insistence that only the central government has the authority to manage Iraq’s energy resources. "Turkey must not interfere in an issue that harms Iraqi sovereignty," Maliki said. The central government and the Kurds differ over how to interpret the constitution and share revenue from the world’s fourth-largest […]

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Iraq's Maliki Threatens to Cut Funds If Kurds Pipe Oil to Turkey

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki threatened on Sunday to cut Kurdistan’s share of the federal budget if the autonomous region exports oil to Turkey via a new pipeline without central government consent. The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow to Turkey and exports were expected to start at the end of this month and then rise in February and March. "This is a constitutional violation which we will never allow, not for the (Kurdistan) region nor for the Turkish government," Maliki told Reuters in an interview. He reiterated Baghdad’s insistence that only the central government has the authority to manage Iraq’s energy resources. "Turkey must not interfere in an issue that harms Iraqi sovereignty," Maliki said. The central government and the Kurds differ over how to interpret the constitution and share revenue from the world’s fourth-largest […]

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Baghdad warns of legal action against Kurdish exports

Iraq’s Oil Ministry said it is “exceptionally dismayed” by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) announcement of independent crude sales and has accused Turkey of breaching treaty obligations by collaborating with the KRG to commandeer a leg of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP).The “Iraqi Federal Ministry of Oil, represented by SOMO [the State Oil Marketing Organization], is the exclusive sole official body authorized to enter into contracts for the export of hydrocarbon resource.

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Jordan, Iraq mull prospects of pipeline from Basra to Aqaba

AMMAN, Jordan, Jan. 10 (UPI) — Jordan wants Iraq to move quickly on implementation of an oil pipeline from the Iraqi port city of Basra, the Jordanian prime minister said. Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour met in Amman with Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Karim al-Luaibi to discuss ties in the energy sector and said his government was interested in the quick development of a pipeline from Basra that could deliver as much as 150,000 barrels of oil per day to the Jordanian shore, the official Jordan News Agency reported Thursday. The pipeline would stretch from Basra to the Jordanian port city of Aqaba. Ensour said the private sector should play a role in a project that could eventually extend to Egypt and other Mediterranean countries. The Iraqi minister said there is the possibility of building an oil refinery and power plant in Aqaba in addition to a pipeline. In a […]

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Baghdad Says It Is ‘Bewildered’ by Kurdistan’s Oil Pact With Turkey

Iraqi Kurdistan’s aspiration to become an independent oil exporter took a hit Friday, when Baghdad criticized the semiautonomous region for publicly planning international sales before striking a deal with the central government. The Kurdistan Regional Government said it plans to sell the first parcel of oil at the end of January through the Kurdistan Oil Marketing Organization, rather than Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization. Iraq’s oil ministry responded with "deep regret" and bewilderment, saying Friday that Kurdistan’s plans are a "flagrant violation of the provisions of the Iraqi constitution." The ministry also criticized Turkey’s government for allowing Kurdish oil to pass through the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline without Baghdad’s consent. Exports without Baghdad’s approval could prove fraught. Iraq’s oil ministry has threatened to take legal action against any company that buys Kurdish oil exported without Baghdad’s blessing. The twist is the latest on a long and tortured road to an agreement […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple