The Kurds agreed in December to export 550,000 bpd via Somo
Kurds cut oil transfers to Iraq's Somo by half in July
BEIRUT, August 5, 2015
Iraqi Kurdistan reduced its transfers of oil to the Iraq State Oil Marketing Organization (Somo) by half in July to an average of 71,017 barrels per day (bpd), as the autonomous region continued independent exports, its Ministry of Natural Resources said.
Overall exports via pipeline from the Kurdistan region to Turkey dropped also by nearly 10 per cent from the previous month to an average of 516,745 bpd.
The ministry said a day earlier it would pay a portion of its revenue from direct crude oil sales to producers, in an apparent attempt to reassure foreign oil companies operating in the northern region.
The Kurds agreed in December to export 550,000 bpd via Somo in exchange for the reinstatement of budget payments from Baghdad, which reduced funding to the region last year.
The deal was hailed as a breakthrough in a long-running dispute over oil rights and revenue sharing between Kurdistan the Iraq government, but it has looked increasingly fragile, with each side accusing the other of violating the agreement.
The Kurds say they have not been paid in full by Baghdad, which in turn accuses them of failing to export the agreed volumes.
"In July, the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) continued to increase its direct oil sales in Ceyhan (in Turkey) to compensate the Region for the budget shortfalls from the federal government in Baghdad and to continue to pay down debts accumulated in 2014 from pre-payments for direct oil sales," the ministry said in a statement.
Most of July's exports came from fields under the Kurds' jurisdiction, with only 128,981 bpd contributed by Iraq's state-run North Oil Company in Kirkuk. --Reuters
