Official: Iraq, BP, Rosneft, Kurds should agree on Turkey oil pipe

CAIRO, Nov 8 (PRIME) -- The Iraqi government and British giant BP should agree with Russian oil major Rosneft and the government of the Iraqi Kurdistan in Erbil on oil pumping from the Kirkuk region to Turkey via a pipeline, Dilshad Shaaban, a member of Kurdistan’s parliament, told PRIME on Thursday.

Iraq has regained control over Kirkuk oil fields from Kurdistan, and said it will develop the fields together with BP. But on Tuesday, Izzat Saber, a member of the Kurdistan parliament, said that the region signed a cooperation agreement with Rosneft to develop five oil blocks, including three blocks located in the Kirkuk region.

“The Iraqi government and BP will be unable to start working and pumping Kirkuk oil to Turkey without cooperation with Rosneft and with the government of the Kurdistan Region. Rosneft owns 60% of shares of the pipeline of the Iraqi Kurdistan. This is why BP simply has to agree with Rosneft on joint development of the fields in Kirkuk and further transportation of oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan,” Shaaban said.

Iraq and BP will be unable to use the pipeline that runs through Kirkuk and Mosul to Turkey because it was badly damaged during the war with terrorists from the Islamic State if Iraq and Syria (ISIS). “We, the regional government, decided not to transfer control over border crossing point Faysh Khabur to the federal government, and this is the only point than can transport oil (to Turkey),” he said.

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