Turkey, Iraq discuss Kirkuk oil exports via Ceyhan port

By Afra Aksoy

BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraq's oil minister announced on Wednesday negotiations with Turkey over exports of oil drilled from Kirkuk through the port of Ceyhan, on Turkey’s eastern Mediterranean coast.

"Now we are negotiating with the Turkish government on exports of oil from the Kirkuk area via the port of Ceyhan. However, no final agreement has been reached until now," Jabar Ali al-Luaibi told reporters.

There are five oil wells in the oil-rich Kirkuk region, two of which are controlled by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).

Unidentified attackers on several occasions blew up the strategic Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline in Iraq’s northern Kirkuk province.

Iraq is the second-largest crude oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Saudi Arabia, and holds the world's fifth-largest proven crude oil reserves after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Iran, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).