Aziz Ahmad, Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, on Thursday welcomed “the strong and clear position from our partners in the U.S. government regarding the resumption of oil exports from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

“We stand ready to make that happen. The Kurdistan Regional Government Minister of Natural Resources is in Baghdad for more talks today,” he added.

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Thursday told reporters that the United States is urging the Iraqi government to reach an agreement “with the international oil companies (IOCs) to resume oil exports through the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline (ITP) as soon as possible, and to honor the existing contracts with U.S. companies.”

Reopening the ITP ensures Iraqi oil can reach global, especially European, markets,” she added. “Iraq benefits from the stability of resilient supply chains, as we all do.”

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

Haibat Halbousi, Chairman of the Iraqi parliament’s oil and gas committee, told reporters on Wednesday that oil exports from the Kurdistan Region will officially resume next week.

Myles B. Caggins III, Spokesman of the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan – which represents several IOCs in the region – posted on X that “more meetings and agreements are required before oil exports resume.”