A few years after the US invasion, a small amount of oil began to be pumped from Kirkuk to the Ceyhan pipeline, but this trade was interrupted most of the time by sabotage taking place on the Iraqi side.Iraqi parliament's three-time failure to adopt a new hydrocarbon law has been one of the main stumbling blocks before the exploitation of Iraq's rich oil and gas potential, this at a time when the Kurdish-dominated northern Iraq's autonomous region has been at odds with the central authority over its share of oil wealth.
Despite the absence of an Iraqi oil law, Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region began exporting crude oil for the first time yesterday from two Kurdish fields via an Iraqi pipeline to Turkey's Ceyhan terminal with Baghdad's consent, in a step that could pave the way to an end of bitter domestic feuds over Iraq's oil wealth.
Initial exports will be around 40,000 barrels per day from the Taq Taq field in Arbil province and another 50,000 bpd from the Tawke field in Dohuk, company officials told Agence France-Presse. "Piping of the oil will start Monday morning from the Taq Taq field, pumping it from seven wells," said Mohammed Okotan, director of the Taq Taq project for Turkey's Genel Enerji, which has partnered with Norway's DNO International. "We will try to reach 60,000 barrels a day by the end of this year," he said, adding that the project aims to double exports in two years.
Mete Göknel, an energy strategist and former general manager of the Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ), believes the Kurdish region's start of pumping oil to the Turkish terminal indicates rapprochement between Iraqi Kurds and the central authority following a long time dispute over sharing the oil wealth.
For Turkey, the amount scheduled to be pumped to the Ceyhan terminal is small but marks a good start in ties between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds in particular and further improvement of ties with Iraq's central government.
“I am of the belief that Kurdish leaders have begun to realize Turkey's importance for their own well-being,” Göknel asserted, adding that the fact that US has decided to withdraw from Iraq played an important factor in Baghdad's consent for Iraqi Kurds to begin pumping oil to Ceyhan.
“It is understood, in my belief, that Turkey stands as a feasible and advantageous neighbor for both the Iraqi central government and for Iraqi Kurds. Neither Iranians nor Arabs will allow Iraqi Kurds to live in peace,” Göknel notes.
For some other Turkish security and oil experts, it will be Massoud Barzani, the head of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), who can end or minimize the existence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) operating from bases in northern Iraq once he realizes the benefits of economic cooperation with Turkey.
Interestingly, a link between delays in Turkey's passage of a petroleum law and Iraq's prolonged and yet to be approved draft law on oil is being established.
The Iraqi parliament, despite the fact that it has been functioning while US-led occupation forces are still in the country, has been resisting giving too many concessions to foreign countries and multinational oil companies. Similarly, the Iraqi central authority's parliament has been fighting against the Iraqi autonomous region despite its being recognized as a Kurdish regional government under the Iraqi constitution to prevent it from having unlimited rights over the exploration of gas and oil in its region.
“Although Iraq has been functioning despite the presence of occupation forces in the country and although it has been resisting giving too many concessions to foreign interests under these circumstances, Turkey, as a country fully exercising its sovereignty, is awaiting the adoption of the Iraqi oil law because this will save Turkey from serious opposition within the country concerning the level of concessions to be given to multinational oil companies,” says another Turkish energy strategist.
This is despite the fact that Turkey has limited oil and gas resources and is dependant abroad for almost 80 percent of its hydrocarbon resource needs.
Nevertheless, in the midst of strong signals coming from Turkish decision-makers that there might be a breakthrough to end an impasse in Turkey's decades-long Kurdish question, the beginning of oil flow from northern Iraq to the Ceyhan terminal will contribute to any effort to bring about peace.
