Dispute over arrears stalls Kurdistan oil exports restart

A deal to restart Iraq's Kurdistan oil exports stalled on Tuesday as two oil producing firms asked for assurances their debts would be repaid. (AFP/File)

• Iraq’s cabinet was scheduled to approve on Tuesday the deal involving oil producers active in Iraqi Kurdistan
• It was not immediately clear if the deal could go ahead without DNO and Genel’s participation

DUBAI: A deal to restart Iraq’s Kurdistan oil exports stalled on Tuesday as two oil producing firms asked for assurances their debts would be repaid.
The deal between Iraq’s federal and Kurdish regional governments and oil firms is designed to lead to the resumption of exports of about 230,000 barrels per day of oil from Kurdistan to global market via Turkiye. They have been suspended since March 2023.
Iraq’s cabinet was scheduled to approve on Tuesday the deal involving oil producers active in Iraqi Kurdistan. It was not immediately clear if the deal could go ahead without DNO and Genel’s participation.
Norway’s DNO, the largest producer in the semi-autonomous region, and Genel Energy said they had yet to sign as they wanted assurances on repayments of arrears.
DNO said it had proposed “easy fixes that can be quickly agreed” without saying what they were.
Kurdistan has accumulated around $1 billion in arrears to producers with DNO’s estimated share of overdue receivables at about $300 million.