Iraq seeks more compensation from Turkey, 'blocks' reopening of Kurds' oil pipeline
Disputes over oil revenues and arbitration claims have kept the Kurdish pipeline closed.
Iraq is seeking additional compensation from Turkey in a second case filed at an international arbitration court in Paris, over what Baghdad describes as the illegal sale of Iraqi oil exported through a pipeline from fields in Iraqi Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean, according to sources familiar with the dispute.
Turkey faces a May deadline to submit its arguments in the latest arbitration case, which follows an earlier one launched in 2014. The Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce, where the case is being deliberated, will hold its first hearing in July, said the sources, who asked not to be identified in order to speak freely.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry did not reply to Al-Monitor's request for comment.
Iraq’s refusal to drop the case is likely to further complicate efforts by the Kurdistan Regional Government and international oil companies to resume exports. These exports were halted on March 25, 2023, when Turkey closed the pipeline in anticipation of an earlier ICC ruling on similar Iraqi charges related to exports made between 2014 and 2018. The purpose of the second case is to determine additional damages owed to Iraq for exports that occurred thereafter.
