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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIndependent sale of Kurdistan oil could break Iraq apart
Last edited Sun Jan 5, 2014, 03:26 PM - Edit history (1)
berry...berry...interestink......It seems Turkey and U.S. oil interests among others have decided to work around the main Iraq government. I'm sure there is much more to uncover about this as it relates to current events. And Turkey doing deals with the KRG?
NKARA, Jan 2 (Reuters) Crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan has started flowing via a new pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean export hub of Ceyhan but will not be shipped to world markets without the consent of Baghdad, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Thursday. Yildiz hopes a deal can be reached this month for exports to begin, he told a news conference in Ankara. Flows through the pipeline would start at 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) and rise to 400,000, he said. Turkey signed a multi-billion-dollar energy package late last year with Iraqi Kurdistan (KRG) under which the semi-autonomous region plans independent energy exports via Turkey. Kurdistan could eventually export some 2 million bpd of oil to world markets and at least 10 billion cubic metres per year of gas to Turkey. Its bid to export oil and gas independently from Baghdad has infuriated officials in the Iraqi capital, which claims sole authority to manage Iraqi oil. Turkey has been working to get the central government on board before exports start. - See more at: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/130895/Kurdistan_Oil_Flow_to_Turkey_Begins_Exports_Await_Iraqi_Consent#sthash.0mJLDjDF.dpuf
Edited to add this article: Turkey, the US and the KRG: Moving Parts and the Geopolitical Realities
http://www.insightturkey.com/turkey-the-us-and-the-krg-moving-parts-and-the-geopolitical-realities/Articles/196
Lodestar
(2,388 posts)I always worry a bit for Turkey as they are simultaneously in the catbird's seat geographically but so vulnerable geopolitically,
trying to keep the peace from every angle with multiple interests pulling in every direction.
Well I should have done a search on this BEFORE posting my question. Indeed there IS an agreement with Iran!
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/07/hold-kurds-oil-iran-idUSL6N0FU4LG20130807
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/21/iran-influence-iraqi-kurdistan
...This July, the Iranian first vice president welcomed the Iraqi Kurdistan minister of housing and development, amid announcements that a new bilateral trade agreement had been signed and that trade between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan was expected to surpass $4 billion in 2013. In 2000, before the war, the officially reported volume of trade was only $100 million.
But Iran still has some way to go to catch up with another regional heavyweight, Turkey. The historical relationship between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan is similar to Iran's. Like Tehran, there is deep-rooted hostility between Ankara and its Kurdish citizens. Like Iran and PJAK, Ankara has been embroiled in a long-running conflict inside Turkey with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a left-wing Kurdish movement whose leader, Abdullah Öcalan, is currently in prison. Like Iran, Turkey shelled, bombed, and even sent ground troops against PKK positions inside Iraqi Kurdistan in the aftermath of the US-led invasion.
Earlier this year, however, the PKK signed a ceasefire with Ankara and the two sides are engaged in peace negotiations. And Turkey has moved even more vigorously than Iran in investing in Iraqi Kurdistan, throwing its weight into politically important, big-ticket infrastructure projects. Half of all foreign companies registered in Iraqi Kurdistan are Turkish, and trade between Ankara and Erbil is $8 billion, double the Iranian figure. Oil-rich Iraqi Kurdistan has attracted investment from the major international energy companies and the largest oil producer in the region is the Turkish company Genel Energy, listed in London and run by former BP chief Tony Hayward.
Erbil is finalising the connection of its oil supplies to the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries oil from Iraq proper to energy-hungry Turkey and the port of Ceyhan. At the end of October, Erbil announced its plans for a second pipeline that will directly link Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey, free from any interference from Baghdad. Even the ancient round citadel in Erbil bears the hoardings of 77 Construction group, a major Turkish-Iraqi joint venture.
Lodestar
(2,388 posts)interests and partnerships in the Middle East, particularly the Kurds and Iran?
Don't all respond at once now!
Brother Buzz
(36,440 posts)One could make the argument that part of the Neocon's plan from the get-go was to create an autonomous Kurdistan for the sole purpose of exploiting undeveloped oil resources for western interests.
Lodestar
(2,388 posts)Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.