A crude oil pipeline from Iraq through Turkey, suspended for about six months, is ready to resume operations and Ankara is prepared to begin shipments, said Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar.
Turkey had halted flows on the pipeline, Iraq's northern oil export route, after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages for unauthorized exports between 2014 and 2018.
Ankara later started maintenance work on the pipeline that contributes about 0.5% of global crude supply. The two countries agreed to wait until a maintenance assessment on the pipeline was complete to restart flows while still engaging in a legal battle on arbitration awards.
"We informed the other side that the route is ready for operations as of Wednesday [Oct. 4], that there are no obstacles to oil shipments or to storing oil in Ceyhan and sending it to global markets," said Bayraktar.
Bayraktar added Turkey was ready to receive the oil and ship it, but that this was an issue dependent on production and operations on the Iraqi side.
An Iraqi oil official said talks were still ongoing on restarting oil exports via the pipeline.
In April, Iraq petitioned a U.S. federal court to enforce the ICC arbitration award. Last month, Baykratar said Ankara was weighing legal action against Iraq.
Ankara is seeking a halt to this U.S. litigation and a lack of progress on resolving this issue was among the reasons behind the postponement of a planned August visit by President Tayyip Erdogan, sources have said.
Sources have also said Erdogan is likely to visit Baghdad in October to resolve the issue, but there has been no official confirmation of this.
