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News investments by operating oil companies in Kurdistan will boost crude exports via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline following an agreement to reopen the facility, the head of Iraq’s state oil marketing firm said.
Kurdistan now exports around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) via the pipeline and supplies are expected to rise by 20,000 bpd in March, Somo’s director Ali Nizar said.
“We expect exports via the Kirkuk pipeline to reach 220,000 bpd in March..they will continue to rise later as operators started to invest in production following the tripartite agreement to reopen the pipeline,” he told Iraq’s Dijla TV.
Nizar said higher exports through that pipeline would not affect Iraq’s crude exports from its southern oilfields.
He said Iraq’s production quota assigned by OPEC PLUS is around 4.274 million and that it exports around 3.4 million bpd from the southern fields.
In September last year, Iraq finalised an agreement with Turkey and Kurdistan governments to resume oil exports via the 2,700-kilemtre pipeline that was shut by Ankara nearly three years ago.
Turkey decided in July 2025 to terminate the 52-year-old pipeline pact from 27 July this year and analysts said they believe the decision was because Ankara wants to negotiate a better financial agreement.
(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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