ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s national oil marketer is moving to renew the agreement governing exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil, a senior official said Wednesday.
Ali Nizar, head of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), told Rudaw that the body has informed senior government officials it will begin procedures to extend the deal. He said the agreement “will certainly be extended,” adding that “we are now awaiting a response from the Council of Ministers for that purpose.”
In late December, Baghdad, Erbil, and international oil companies agreed to extend a key agreement signed in September for an additional three months to allow continued exports of the Region’s oil.
Rudaw has learned that the consulting company, Wood Mackenzie, tasked with assessing production costs, has begun its work, with plans to resolve the issue by the end of March. In early January, Nizar said the federal oil ministry had signed a key contract with the British consultancy firm to determine the production cost of Kurdish oil.
Under the September agreement, an initial advance of $16 per barrel was set to cover extraction and transportation costs payable to international oil companies. The amount is temporary and will remain in place until an independent expert firm provides a more accurate cost assessment.