Baghdad, November 20 - Neftegaz.RU. Iraq's central government has agreed with Kurdish authorities to resume oil exports from Kirkuk, said the oil ministry , a year after federal forces seized the lucrative fields.
The Iraqi PM Adel Abdul-Mahdi's government struck a deal with the Kurdish regional government to export 50,000 to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd).
«The federal government and the government of the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI) reached a preliminary agreement to resume oil flows starting today from the Kirkuk fields through the KRI's pipeline to the Ceyhan port in Turkey,» he told AFP.
A source from the state's North Oil Company confirmed that oil had begun pumping out of Kirkuk at 10am (0700 GMT), describing it a test. «It began as an experiment with 50,000 bpd and will later reach an average of 80,000 bpd,» the source added.
Iraq is OPEC's 2nd-largest oil exporter at 4.5 billion bpd. Oil exports make up almost the entirety of the government's revenue, bringing in $8.5 billion last month.
