MESOP SOURCES & COMMENTS – THE KURDS & THEIR IRANIAN BACKED OIL DEAL

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) may open a second oil export route through Iran into the Persian Gulf, depending on talks in Erbil between the KRG and an Iranian delegation this month. Kurdistan currently only sends its oil through a pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish mediterranean city of Ceyhan. This line has been disrupted multiple times in recent months, either due to Turkey’s war with the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) or unknown saboteurs. Abdulla Akreyi, who runs Iranian affairs at the KRG’s Foreign Relations Department, told Rudaw English that “The Iranians have frequently told us that they are ready to import Kurdish crude and process it at the refineries in Kermanshah or Tabriz,” and added that “we have also discussed constructing pipelines, but these are only under discussion.” However, questions remain if Iraq would support such a plan. Baghdad opposes direct Kurdish export of oil, and in early 2014 cut off the KRG’s portion of the Iraqi budget in response to Erbil’s continued export of oil via Turkey. Former Iraqi Oil Minister and current member of the Iraqi parliament’s Oil and Gas Committee Ibrahim Mohamed Bahr al-Uloom expressed doubt that “Iran will go ahead with an oil deal with the KRG without Baghdad’s approval.” However, Iran holds a large amount of influence over Iraq’s government, and al-Uloom expects that Iran will “work out all the details of an oil deal with Baghdad, so that things go right.”