The U.S. Acting Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs John Bass in a meeting with Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs Fuad Hussein on Monday underlined the importance of resuming oil exports from the Kurdistan Region.

“We agreed on the need to prevent further regional escalation, reopen the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline (ITP), and encourage continued foreign investment in Iraq’s economy,” Under Secretary Bass posted on X.

On March 25, 2023, Kurdish crude exports through Turkiye were halted after an international arbitration court in France ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, stopping 450,000 barrels per day of crude oil exports to international markets.

Enjoyed my recent conversation with ?? DPM Hussein. We agreed on the need to prevent further regional escalation, reopen the Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline, and encourage continued foreign investment in Iraq's economy. pic.twitter.com/2lnwhB0Aef

— John Bass (@UnderSecStateP) October 7, 2024

In a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani in New York on September 24, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also emphasized the need to reopen the ITP.

“The Secretary emphasized the need to reopen the ITP to encourage continued foreign investment in the Iraqi economy and commended Iraq’s commitment to achieve energy independence by 2030,” U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement at the time.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has also repeatedly underlined that it is ready to resume oil exports and hopes that Baghdad will take the necessary steps to expedite this process.

So far, talks between Turkish, Iraqi, and KRG officials, and international oil companies have not yielded concrete results.