The Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) has announced that its member companies are backing the Kurdistan Region's recent initiatives to address the prolonged suspension of Kurdish oil exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline. The exports have been halted since March last year.

In a statement released on Monday, APIKUR expressed its endorsement of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) decision, as discussed during a recent Council of Ministers meeting, to pursue direct sales agreements between International Oil Companies and the Iraqi State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO).

"It offers the best option for resolving the current situation—these agreements should provide International Oil Companies with payment security through upfront payments, escrow arrangements, or payments in-kind at Ceyhan," APIKUR stated.

Kurdistan's oil exports via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been on hold since March 25, 2023. This suspension followed a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court that favored Baghdad in a dispute against Turkey. The court determined that Ankara had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by permitting Erbil to initiate independent oil exports in 2014.

Prior to the suspension, the pipeline, which has a capacity to export 1.4 million barrels of oil per day, was exporting 450,000 barrels daily.

Last month, APIKUR highlighted the financial repercussions of the halted exports, claiming that the failure to resume Kurdish oil exports to Turkey has resulted in over $14.5 billion in lost export revenues for Iraq.

APIKUR is composed of eight international upstream oil and gas companies, each holding direct or indirect interests in upstream oil or gas contracts in the Kurdistan Region. The association's support underscores the industry's urgent call for a resolution to the export suspension, which has significant economic implications for the region and the country at large.