Iraq’s federal government and Kurdistan Region are close to reaching an agreement to end their dispute over Erbil’s crude exports, says Genel Energy which operates in the region.


Mehmet Sepil, the Anglo-Turkish Genel Energy company’s president, who was familiar with the negotiations between Baghdad and Erbil, told Reuters that he saw an agreement over the sharing of oil revenues approaching.

“We have never been this close to a deal,” said Sepil, adding, “The issues that caused an impasse have been identified. There’s been quite a bit of progress made.”

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey have recently signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package. Under the deal, Kurdistan’s oil can reach Turkey and the global markets via the Mediterranean Sea.

Despite the firey statements exchanged between Baghdad and Erbil over the Kudistan region’s crude exports in the past months, talks between the two sides have continued.

On February 1, Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussain al-Shahristani said some progress had been made in Baghdad-Erbil negotiations, adding a solution could be found soon.

Shahristani also said in January that his country “considers the export of oil through its international borders without government approval as a violation.”

Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has described Erbil’s crude exports to Turkey as a “constitutional violation” which the Arab country would “never allow, not for the Kurdistan region, nor for the Turkish government.”