Iraq halts northern crude exports after winning arbitration case against Turkey

Iraq halted crude exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and northern Kirkuk fields on Saturday, an oil official told Reuters, after the country won a longstanding arbitration case against Turkey.

Turkey informed Iraq that it will respect the arbitration ruling, a senior Iraqi oil official said.

Turkish shipping officials informed Iraqi employees at Turkey’s Ceyhan oil export hub that no ship will be allowed to load Kurdish crude cargoes without the approval of the Iraqi government, according to a document seen by Reuters.

Turkey subsequently halted the pumping of Iraqi crude from the pipeline that leads to Ceyhan, a separate document seen by Reuters showed.

On Saturday, Iraq stopped pumping oil through its side of the pipeline which runs from its northern Kirkuk oil fields, one of the officials told Reuters.