KRG Awaits Baghdad’s Final Approval on Oil Export Agreement

July 02, 2025

On Wednesday, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Council of Ministers emphasized they are awaiting the Iraqi federal government’s approval of a recent oil agreement reached with oil company representatives after days of talks that started last Thursday.

The KRG Council of Ministers said that the main focus of the meeting was to discuss the outcomes of the recent meetings between the delegations of the KRG and the federal government held in Erbil and Baghdad with the participation of representatives of international oil companies (IOCs).

These talks specifically addressed the resumption of Kurdistan Region’s oil exports through the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) and the follow-up on the disbursement of salaries for the months of May and June to public employees in the Kurdistan Region.

“The Council of Ministers reaffirmed that the Kurdistan Region has fulfilled all its obligations and shown full flexibility to resume oil exports through SOMO and return oil revenues to the federal Ministry of Finance,” the KRG said in a readout.

“The Kurdistan Region and the IOCs have expressed complete readiness to cooperate with the federal government to resume oil exports, aimed at eliminating all pretexts and excuses Baghdad has used to withhold the salaries of the people of Kurdistan.”

The KRG underlined that they are now awaiting the decision from Baghdad. “This would allow oil exports to resume and remove any excuses for the federal Ministry of Finance to delay the rightful financial entitlements of the Kurdistan Region.”

In May, Iraq’s federal Ministry of Finance decided to suspend the salaries of public employees in the Kurdistan Region for this year.

“This is a violation of constitutional rights,” KRG Prime Minister Barzani said last month, in reference to the withholding of salaries. “We believe that public employees should never be dragged into disputes between the federal and regional governments.”

The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan , which represents several IOCs in the Kurdistan Region, last Friday underlined that they are ready “to immediately resume exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, as soon as written agreements are in place.”