Pipeline Politics Is Forcing Kurdistan to Sell Oil at a Discount

Crude oil production in Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan is currently about 350,000 barrels per day (bpd), but it all goes to local buyers at steep discounts as the key export route via a pipeline to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast continues to be shut in. Kurdistan’s crude output is now around 50,000 bpd lower compared to production levels before March 2023, when the pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan was closed due to an international dispute, according to figures provided to Argus by Myles Caggins, a spokesperson for…