Kirkuk stops oil shipments to Kurdish Regional Gov.

Crude oil shipments extracted from Kirkuk wells and destined for the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) have been halted, the Iraqi central government announced on Monday.

Turkey interested in Russia's new gas pipeline project (South Stream)

Turkey finds it feasible and possible to participate in Russia's South Stream pipeline project, if Moscow makes official offer, said Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz on Thursday.
If Russia makes an official offer, we find it feasible and possible, said Yildiz at the fourth Annual Congress of Caucasus Universities Association titled "Role of Energy in Caucasia's Future" in Ankara.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced that Moscow would choose a country not belonging to the European Union for passage of the South Stream pipeline, following the EU's reactions to the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

The South Stream project, which is expected to be operational by 2018, was designed to ship Russia's natural gas to Europe through Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Austria. 
However, Brussels has put the project on hold as the EU seeks to decrease its reliance on Russian gas.

Kurdish oil continues to flow
Asked about the identity of the buyers of northern Iraqi oil, which has started to be exported from the southeastern Turkish port of Ceyhan last week, Yildiz said, "We don't know who buys the oil since the oil belongs to Iraq, and Turkey only manages the transportation part, not the sale."
Yildiz mentioned that 100,000 to 120,000 barrels of northern Iraqi oil per day were continuing to flow into Ceyhan before being transferred to the Mediterranean market.
The oil had been stored in Ceyhan for the last six months in line with an agreement signed between Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq as the central government in Baghdad opposed its sale, claiming that would violate the country’s constitution. 
While negotiations on a deal between the Irbil and Baghdad authorities were taking place, almost 2.5 million barrels of oil accumulated in Ceyhan.
Last Thursday, Yildiz announced that the one million barrels of the Ceyhan oil had begun to be sold to Mediterranean market.
It remains unclear whether an agreement was actually reached between Irbil and Baghdad.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
29/5/14 
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Related:

• South Stream: le gazoduc pourrait contourner l'UE (Poutine)

• Iraqi Kurds slam Baghdad legal action over oil shipment

• Bulgaria facing EU sanctions over South Stream. (Barroso)

Iraqi Kurds slam Baghdad legal action over oil shipment

Iraq's Kurdish region slammed legal action filed by the central government against Turkey, saying Sunday it was illegitimate and likely to fail, the latest in worsening ties between Baghdad and Kurdistan.
 
The Kurdish Ministry of Natural Resources statement came just days after Baghdad's Oil Ministry filed a request for arbitration against Ankara at the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce after crude from Kurdistan was exported to international markets via a Turkish port.

Relations between Iraq and its Kurdish region, and between Baghdad and Ankara, were already fragile and are likely to chill further over the row, with the latest shipments flying in the face of the Iraqi government's insistence that it has the sole right to sell its prized natural resources.

"The MOO (Ministry of Oil) is, with its behaviour, isolating itself ... (and) potentially damaging Iraq's petroleum industry and Iraq's petroleum reserves," the ministry statement said.
"The MOO is also ... now prepared to damage Iraq's relations with Turkey and other friends of Iraq."
The statement labelled the arbitration request "self-defeating" and "illegitimate", saying it would "not allow hollow threats from the MOO to interfere with the KRG's (Kurdistan Regional Government's) oil export regime."

The dispute between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities in Arbil centres around interpretations of Iraq's constitution, with both sides insisting they are behaving legally.
The central government insists it has the sole right to export Iraqi crude, describes Kurdish sales as "smuggling" and also says contracts between Arbil and foreign energy firms without its expressed consent are illegal.
But the row took on a new dimension after Turkey confirmed shipments of oil pumped from the autonomous northern Iraqi region and stored in Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan began on Thursday.............[hurriyetdailynews.com]
25/5/14