Kurdish-held northern oil fields open to oil transport
- September 13, 2021
Kurdish-controlled oil fields in northern Iraq have opened to the oil transport sector, with a company from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk taking delivery of the first tanker to the city of Sulaimaniyah, according to the Kurdish-run Iraqi Oil Ministry.
The company, Al-Tekra, signed a contract with the Kirkuk-based Kurdish Oil Company (KPC) on Tuesday for the delivery of five tanker trucks, the Iraqi Oil ministry said in a statement.
The first shipment will arrive on Wednesday, with the remaining four trucks to be delivered by the end of the month, the ministry said.
The ministry added that the Kirkuka oil fields are home to around 100,000 barrels per day of oil, making them the third largest in Iraq after Erbil and Sulaimania.
The oil ministry also said it will provide the Kirkuke oil fields with water, electricity and other infrastructure to be used for the transportation of oil from the fields to the port of Kirkuka, the northern province where Kirkuk is located.
Iraq’s Kurds have been struggling with the lack of oil in recent years, but they have made significant gains since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has said that the U.N.-backed Baghdad government has not made progress on addressing the region’s energy needs, with its oil output expected to be only half of what it was during the U,S.-backed invasion in 2003.
