Page 7 - MEOG Week 14 2022

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Israel-Turkey pipeline

unrealistic in short term

ISRAEL/TURKEY STRIKING an agreement for a gas pipeline con- Israel and Palestine with Energy Minister Fatih
necting Israel and Turkey and constructing the Donmez in mid-May and would discuss the
infrastructure will not be possible in the short appointment of ambassadors with his Israeli
term, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavu- counterpart during the visit.
soglu said on March 31. Israel boasts the giant Leviathan gas field. It
With Europe scrutinising any workable has reserves of 620bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas
options for sourcing more non-Russian gas, the and could conceivably supply 10-12 bcm per
idea of flowing Israeli gas to European Union year to Europe. One political complication for
states via a pipeline link to Turkey has lately Turkey is that the required pipeline would have
gained more currency. to pass through the disputed island of Cyprus.
Hopes that such a project could soon be put Some analysts have suggested it would, given
in place have risen given how Turkey and Israel the issue of Cyprus, be both politically and tech-
have lately been trying to mend their relations. nically easier for Israel to pipe its gas to Egypt’s
However, Cavusoglu, speaking to Turkish liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants.
broadcaster A Haber, dispelled the notion that There it could be converted to LNG and
the gas project could be realised quickly. shipped to buyer nations. But it would also take
Cavusoglu added that he would travel to years to realise this project.™

POLICY & SECURITY

Iraq tells KRG to move activities to new NOC

IRAQ THE Iraqi Ministry of Oil (MoO) has told gas industry were unconstitutional and said the
semi-autonomous authorities in the northern region’s contracts should be voided.
Kurdistan Region it intends to set up a new state In the ruling the court said that the KRG
oil firm to manage the Kurdish energy sector. In should deliver the “entire production of oilfields
a letter that was leaked to press, the MoO told in Kurdistan” to the state oil marketer Somo.
the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) it It added that all of the KRG’s contracts with
must transfer its oil and gas activities to the new international oil companies (IOCs) and foreign
company, which would be established between governments covering exploration, production,
Baghdad and Erbil. exports and sales were invalid and that details
The ministry suggested that the new firm should be provided to the MoO in Baghdad for
should be called Kurdistan Oil Co. (KOC) and auditing.
inferred it would be a subsidiary of the recently Erbil currently exports around 340,000 bpd
reconstituted Iraqi National Oil Co. (INOC). of crude independently from Baghdad using a
The letter was signed by Oil Minister Ihsan pipeline which links to the Turkish section of the
Abdul Jabbar, who gave the KRG 15 days (from Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline via metering stations at
March 24) to provide the ministry with copies of the border town of Fishkhabour.
all oil and gas contracts it has signed with foreign Independent oil sales have been a major issue
companies over the last 18 years. for relations between Baghdad and Erbil and
As in Federal Iraq, international oil compa- have proved thorny enough an issue to prevent
nies (IOCs) are leant on heavily by the KRG for billions of dollars in budget share being trans-
the development of its oil and gas resources, with ferred to the latter.
Kurdistan’s oil production running at 450,000 While Iraq continues to struggle to form
barrels per day (bpd), just over 10% of the full a government, the next step of passing a 2022
Iraqi total. budget is likely, as in previous years, to be held
This week, the MoO announced it had held a up by wrangling about the KRG’s revenues from
workshop “to discuss the dossier” of the KRG’s oil exports and non-oil revenues including cus-
oil and gas sector, which was attended by “inter- toms fees and taxes.
national and local experts” and a team from the In previous budgets the KRG has been allo-
Federal Board of Supreme Audit, with KRG con- cated 12.67% of the total budget, with this con-
tracts and cash flows discussed and reviewed. tingent on it handing over the net revenues from
In February, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court 250,000 bpd of oil exports to Somo and giving
declared that laws regulating the KRG’s oil and these to the central treasury.™

Week 14 06•April•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7