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☆ Islamic resistance vows retaliation after US airstrike killed 5 Iraqi militants
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The US conducted a "self-defense strike" against a target in Iraq on Sunday afternoon. The Islamic Resistance has vowed retaliation for the deaths, per Reuters. AdvertisementFive Iraqi militants were killed Sunday in an airstrike as they prepared to launch explosives toward American forces, according to multiple reports. US officials confirmed they'd carried out a "self-defense strike on an imminent threat" on Sunday afternoon, per Reuters. The outlet reported the Islamic Resistance, a conglomerate of militia groups with ties to Tehran, vowed retaliation for the deaths.

Persons: —, they'd Organizations: US, Sunday, Reuters, Service, US Department of Defense, Business, American Locations: Iraq, Tehran, Israel, Kirkuk

☆ Suspected U.S. Strike in Iraq Kills 5 Militia Members, Sources Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Dec. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

(Reuters) - A suspected U.S. air strike killed five members of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group north of the city of Kirkuk as they were preparing to launch projectiles at U.S. forces in the country, three Iraqi security sources said. U.S. military officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Iraqi armed groups have claimed more than 70 such attacks against U.S. forces since Oct. 17 over Washington's backing of Israel in its bombardment of Gaza. The U.S. in November launched two series of strikes against what it said were Iran-aligned armed groups who had engaged in attacks against their forces. Those strikes killed at least 10 militants who were identified both as members of shadowy militia Kataeb Hezbollah and of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, an official security institution composed mainly of Shi'ite Muslim armed groups, many with close links to Iran.

Persons: Timour, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Reuters, U.S, Hezbollah, Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, United Locations: Iran, Kirkuk, U.S, Syria, Gaza, Israel, United States, Iraq, State

☆ Suspected U.S. strike in Iraq kills five militia members, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 3 (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. air strike killed five members of an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group north of the city of Kirkuk as they were preparing to launch projectiles at U.S. forces in the country, three Iraqi security sources said. U.S. military officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Iraqi armed groups have claimed more than 70 such attacks against U.S. forces since Oct. 17 over Washington's backing of Israel in its bombardment of Gaza. The U.S. in November launched two series of strikes against what it said were Iran-aligned armed groups who had engaged in attacks against their forces. Those strikes killed at least 10 militants who were identified both as members of shadowy militia Kataeb Hezbollah and of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, an official security institution composed mainly of Shi'ite Muslim armed groups, many with close links to Iran.

Persons: Timour, Sharon Singleton Organizations: U.S, Hezbollah, Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, United, Thomson Locations: Iran, Kirkuk, U.S, Syria, Gaza, Israel, United States, Iraq, State

☆ Exclusive: Russia’s Lukoil lends Socar $1.5 billion in deal to supply its Turkish STAR refinery
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Dmitry Zhdannikov | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A general view shows the oil refinery of the Lukoil company in Volgograd, Russia April 22, 2022. Turkey has not imposed sanctions on Russia and continues to import Russian oil and gas. The STAR refinery, however, had to cut Russian crude imports this summer due to complications arising from international financial restrictions on business with Moscow. Neither Lukoil, Socar nor STAR responded to requests for comment. Since cutting imports of Russian oil, it has relied on Kazakh, West African and Iraqi oil grades, according to LSEG data.

Persons: Lukoil, Celeste, Ocean Faye, Socar, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Nailia Bagirova, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: REUTERS, Turkish STAR, Moscow, STAR, Fidelity, Thomson Locations: Volgograd, Russia, Ukraine, MOSCOW, Russian, Turkish, Turkey, Moscow, Urals, Primorsk, Bulgaria, Romania, Dubai, Geneva, Kirkuk, Kazakh, West African, LONDON

☆ Iraqi security forces deploy in Kirkuk after four protesters killed in ethnic clashes
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A view of the city of Kirkuk shows a flame from an oilfield in the distance, October 25, 2010. Four protesters were shot dead on Saturday in clashes between ethnic groups in Kirkuk that broke out after days of tensions. But security forces had deployed additional troops on the streets to "prevent violence and protect civilians", he said. Military helicopters flew over the city on Sunday, according to four Kirkuk residents who spoke to Reuters by phone. Arab residents and minority groups, who say they suffered under Kurdish rule, have protested the KDP's return to the city.

Persons: Saad Shalash, Amir Shwani, Shwani, Ahmed Rasheed, Ros Russell, Hugh Lawson Organizations: REUTERS, Security, SULAIMANIYA, Police, Kurdistan Democratic Party, KDP, Military, Reuters, Sunday, Iraq's Shi'ite, Thomson Locations: Kirkuk, Iraq

☆ Protester killed, dozen wounded in clashes in Iraq city of Kirkuk, police say
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BAGHDAD, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A protester was shot dead and a dozen wounded on Saturday during clashes between ethnic groups in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk that broke out after days of tensions, security forces and police said. Security officials and police in the city say they were investigating the circumstances of how a protester - a Kurd - was killed, and who opened fire. People from both protest groups were wounded as stones were thrown and metal bars used to attack, said Kirkuk police. Kurdish forces controlled Kirkuk city after driving Islamic State out in 2014 but were ejected by the Iraqi army in 2017, bringing the city back under Baghdad's control. But Arab residents and minority groups who said they suffered under Kurdish rule, such as the Turkmen, have protested the KDP's return.

Persons: Mohammed al, Sudani, Ahmed Rasheed, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Kurdistan Democratic Party, Security, Iraq's Shi'ite, Thomson Locations: BAGHDAD, Kirkuk, Iraq, State, Iraqi

☆ Turkey's runoff election is paralyzing key oil exports from northern Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Oil typically flows through Turkey from both the Iraqi state and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). More specifically, this Kirkuk crude flows down the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline linking the north of the Gulf country with Turkey's Ceyhan port in the Mediterranean. But the flows have been paralyzed since March 25 by a legal dispute involving federal Iraq, the KRG and Turkey. This decision led to U.S. companies deciding to exit contracts in Kurdistan and deterred some KRG oil buyers from further purchases. "The ruling party in Turkey [Erdogan's AKP] wants to settle the elections and then deal with KRG's oil with Baghdad."

Persons: KRG, Hayan Abdul, Ghani, —, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Lawk Ghafuri, Yerevan Saeed, Saeed, Bilal Wahab, Wagner Organizations: CNBC, Kurdistan Regional Government, Turkey Pipeline, International, Commerce's, Reuters, ICC, Baghdad, BTC, Kurdistan, Gulf Institute, Sinjar, Washington Institute for Near East Locations: Turkey, Ankara, Baghdad, Iraqi, Kurdistan, Kirkuk, Iraq, Basra, Paris, U.S, Ceyhan, Baku, Syria, Erbil, Yerevan, Washington

April 24 (Reuters) - Iraq's northern oil exports showed few concrete signs of an imminent restart after a month of standstill, as aspects of an agreement between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have yet to be resolved, according to four sources. Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, signed a temporary agreement on April 4 to restart northern oil exports. The KRG and Iraq's oil ministry did not respond to requests for comment. Iraq's lack of willingness to discuss these issues has frustrated Turkey, according to one source. Fields which are still running include Khurmala, which has reduced output from around 135,000 bpd to 100,000 bpd, according to a source familiar with field operations.

LONDON/BAGHDAD, April 1 (Reuters) - Iraq's federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are close to striking a deal aimed at resuming northern oil exports, four sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters on Saturday. Revenues will be deposited in an account managed by the MNR and supervised by Baghdad, the KRG official said. Iraq's oil ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached outside regular business hours. Baghdad and the KRG have agreed to continue meetings following the resumption of oil exports to find solutions to other lingering problems. "[These include] the contracts of the foreign companies operating in Kurdistan and the Kurdish debts," the senior Iraqi oil official said.

Also supporting prices was a Wednesday report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell unexpectedly in the week to March 24 to a two-year low. These factors offset bearish sentiment after a lower than expected cut to Russian crude oil production in the first three weeks of March. The 300,000 bpd production decline compared with targeted cuts of 500,000 bpd, or about 5% of Russian output, sources familiar with the data told Reuters. Meanwhile, OPEC+ is likely to stick to its existing deal on reduced oil output at a meeting on Monday, five delegates from the producer group told Reuters. "If all goes as expected, and we manage to avoid a recession, oil prices will dance around $75-$85/bbl in the coming months," FGE analysts said in a note.

☆ Iraqi Oil-Pipeline Closure Supports Global Crude Prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An oil well northwest of Kirkuk, Iraq. Oil exports through a vital pipeline account for the bulk of the economy in Iraqi Kurdistan. The closure of a vital oil pipeline in northern Iraq is bolstering international prices and threatens supplies in European countries hunting for alternatives to Russian crude. Producers including Norway’s DNO ASA, London-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. and Dallas-based HKN Energy Ltd. say they have either started to shut wells in semiautonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, or will soon do so if the blockage doesn’t free up. They lost access to the pipeline after the federal Iraqi government said last weekend it had won a long-running arbitration case against Turkey over control of Kurdish crude exports.

ANKARA, March 28 (Reuters) - Turkey's Energy Ministry said on Tuesday that Iraq had been ordered by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to pay compensation to Ankara in a longstanding arbitration case related to oil exports from northern Iraq via Turkey. The Turkish energy ministry statement was released after Iraq's oil ministry said on Saturday the ICC had ruled in its favour in the case. The Turkish statement said the ICC had recognised a majority of Turkey's demands, without saying how much compensation Iraq had been ordered to pay. "(The ICC) ordered Iraq to pay a compensation to Turkey," the ministry said, without revealing the amount of compensation. "This case is in fact a reflection of disagreement between Iraq's central government and Iraq's Kurdish Regional Administration," the Turkish ministry said.

☆ Iraqi Kurdistan region's oil output at risk after Turkey halts pipeline exports
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Rowena Edwards | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The Iraqi- Turkish pipeline is seen in Zakho district of the Dohuk Governorate of the Iraqi Kurdistan province, Iraq, August 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ari JalalMarch 27 (Reuters) - Oil production in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region (KRI) is at risk after a halt in northern exports has forced firms operating there to divert crude to storage, where capacity is limited. Oil firms operating in the region have been left in limbo as they await the outcome of ongoing discussions between Ankara, Baghdad and the KRG to find a way to resume exports. The two firms hold stakes in the Tawke and Peshkabir fields, which produced 107,000 bpd of oil last year. Production at the Khurmala oil field run by Kurdish group Kar is currently unaffected at around 135,000 bpd and heading into tank, a source familiar with the field operations told Reuters.

March 25 (Reuters) - Iraq halted crude exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and northern Kirkuk fields on Saturday, an oil official told Reuters, after the country won a longstanding arbitration case against Turkey. Turkey informed Iraq that it will respect the arbitration ruling, a source said. Turkey subsequently halted the pumping of Iraqi crude from the pipeline that leads to Ceyhan, a separate document seen by Reuters showed. "A delegation from the oil ministry will travel to Turkey soon to meet energy officials to agree on new mechanism to export Iraq's northern crude oil in line with the arbitration ruling," a second oil ministry official said. Turkey would need to source more crude from Iran and Russia to make up for the loss of northern Iraqi oil, the letter said.

Before Sudani formed his government he struck a deal with the KDP, which dominates the administration in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq. Under the Iraqi constitution, the Kurdish region is entitled to a portion of the national budget. A spokesman for the KRG, Jotiar Adil, said the "politically motivated" court was trying to spoil the deal between Erbil and Baghdad. A source with knowledge of the meetings said Erbil and Baghdad remained far apart on the hydrocarbon law. Additional reporting by Ali sultan in Sulaimaniya; Editing by Michael Georgy and Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ceyhan loadings of BTC pipeline oil could begin within two days, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Summary Manual loadings while BTC control room repaired -officialKirkuk loadings resumed on TuesdayISTANBUL, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Turkey's Ceyhan port could resume loading oil from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in one or two days using "manual" procedures, a Turkish official and a shipping source said on Saturday. It is the storage and loading point for the BTC pipeline which carries oil from Azerbaijan as well as the Kirkuk pipeline from Iraq. The Kirkuk pipeline resumed flows on Tuesday evening and a tanker docked at Ceyhan to load that day. The control room for BTC pipeline loadings there was damaged, the Turkish official said, but added loadings were expected to resume "manually" while the control room is repaired. Loadings could begin within a day or two days, a shipping source said, quoting information received from the terminal.

☆ Azeri BTC crude loadings suspended at a major oil export hub in Turkey after earthquakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Crude oil loadings from Turkey's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan terminal in the Mediterranean have been suspended following a twin set of earthquakes that devastated Turkey and Syria on Monday, leaving over 9,000 dead. The BTC terminal loads Azeri BTC Blend crude, which is transported to the Ceyhan port through the BTC pipeline. A force majeure notice seen by CNBC — which removes contractual liability from exporters or producers for circumstances outside of their control — was issued on Tuesday evening. The BTC pipeline was not impacted by the earthquakes, the Botas International Company that operates its Turkish section said on Monday. The BTC crude oil loadings schedule that is typically published on the 8th of every month will be delayed, two trade sources said.

☆ Turkey’s Ceyhan oil port disrupted by weather as earthquake damage assessed
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Operations were interrupted at the Ceyhan oil port — a critical hub for the discharge of crude oil and oil products, along with the loading of Azeri crude and a stream of Iraqi crude oil — on Monday, following two earthquakes that devastated Turkey and Syria, leaving over 5,000 dead. It also exports volumes of two crude oil streams — the Azeri crude oil delivered through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) consortium's pipeline, and the Iraqi Kirkuk blend crude oil transferred through the separate Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. Loadings of the two crude oil terminals are undertaken from two different points within Ceyhan port, with BTC crude oil leaving the BTC terminal, while the Kirkuk blend sails from the Botas terminal. An oil trade source familiar with KRG operations told CNBC that the pipeline could likely begin flows later Tuesday. An oil tanker ship is awaiting to berth to load Kirkuk blend crude.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A long-running dispute on oil revenue-sharing between Iraq's national government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region may be resolved within months with agreement on a hydrocarbons law, Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Tuesday. Agreement on regular budget payments from Baghdad would help authorities in the Kurdish Regional Government resolve payment delays to international oil companies in the region, as well as easing a backlog in salary payments for KRG employees. Asked about the timing for agreement on the hydrocarbon law, Barzani said it should be within months. Under the Iraqi constitution, the KRG is entitled to a portion of the national budget. The standoff has affected the KRG's ability to pay international oil companies (IOCs) operating on its territory and to pay thousands of local employees.

☆ Islamic State Suspected to Be Behind Series of Attacks in Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( David S. Cloud | Ghassan Adnan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

People mount over the coffins of people killed in a militant attack near Baghdad earlier this week. BAGHDAD—Suspected Islamic State militants ambushed a military patrol in northern Iraq late Wednesday, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding three others, Iraqi security officials said, in the latest sign that the group is attempting a violent resurgence. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack near the city of Kirkuk, but the officials said they suspected fighters from Islamic State. Gunmen opened fire on Iraqi troops riding in two military vehicles, which were also targeted by roadside bombs, according to the officials.

☆ An assassination, a feud and the fight for power in Iraq's Kurdistan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Amina Ismail | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

TENSE STANDOFFAfter Rasoul's death, the KDP-dominated Regional Security Council accused a PUK security agency of the killing. It detained six men it identified as operatives involved and issued arrest warrants for another four senior PUK security officials, according to security council statement a week after the attack. Long-simmering mistrust between the two sides had already deepened this year due to a wave of defections from PUK security agencies. The senior PUK official told Reuters there had been eight. "It could've easily turned ugly," the senior PUK official said.

☆ Nine reported killed as Iran Revolutionary Guards target dissident sites in Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Smoke rises from the Iraqi Kurdistan headquarters of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, after Iran's Revolutionary Guards' strike on the outskirts of Kirkuk, Iraq September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Ako RasheedDUBAI, SULAIMANIYA, Iraq Sept 28 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they fired missiles and drones at militant targets in the Kurdish region of neighbouring northern Iraq, where an official said nine people were killed. A senior member of Komala, an exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition party, told Reuters that several of their offices were struck as well. The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's elite military and security force, said after the attacks that they would continue targeting what it called terrorists in the region. Protests erupted in Iran this month over the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody.

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