Iraq’s oil exports via Turkey double to 500,000 bpd, KAR Group head says

ERBIL — Iraq’s oil exports through the Kurdistan Region’s pipeline to Turkey have doubled from 250,000 to 500,000 barrels a day, Baz Karim Barzanji, head of the Erbil-based energy company KAR Group, wrote on X on Saturday.

The State Organization for Marketing of Oil, or Somo, markets the crude sent through the line. Oil expert Ziad al-Hashimi said 200,000 to 230,000 barrels a day were flowing through it earlier this month, and Somo put the route’s August exports at nearly 4 million barrels of Kirkuk crude and oil from the Kurdistan Region, or about 127,000 barrels a day.

Barzanji said that if the pipeline reached its maximum capacity of 1 million barrels a day, about 33% of Iraq’s oil would reach world markets through it. Oil Minister Basim al-Abadi said Oct. 19 that exports through all routes had risen to more than 3.4 million barrels a day since the start of October.

Turkey agreed with Iraq in August to take a minimum of 750,000 barrels a day through its Ceyhan port under a one-year agreement. KAR is a shareholder in the Kurdistan Pipeline Company, which owns the export line.

Barzanji also said the Region’s natural gas network was now fully connected, carrying gas produced in the Region through a single pipeline network from Khor Mor to Duhok and directly to power stations, factories and industrial plants. He called it an important milestone for energy security and a foundation for further growth in the country’s industry, and thanked all those who had contributed.

KAR built the 198-kilometer Erbil-Duhok gas pipeline, which Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani inaugurated in October 2025. The $591 million line was built to run Duhok’s power station on gas after years of diesel shortages, and the company said at the time that a pipeline linking the Khor Mor field to Chamchamal would be its next step.

Khor Mor, in the Chamchamal district of Sulaymaniyah governorate, is operated by Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, which say it fuels more than 80% of the Region’s electricity generation. The field’s annual maintenance, which the KRG’s Electricity Ministry said would cut power supply hours across the Region, is due to end Nov. 2.