Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said, regarding the negotiations held within the framework of the Iraq-Turkey Crude Oil Pipeline agreements, "We want to sign a new ITP, that is, a more comprehensive ITP, within a year."
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar answered the questions of the press members before the Cabinet Meeting. Minister Bayraktar made statements regarding the arbitration process regarding the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline and the negotiations with Iraq.
Answering a journalist's question about the arbitration process for the 2014-2018 period, Bayraktar said, "Arbitration for the 2014-2018 period has already made its decision. We said it then. Turkey will pay this much, Iraq will pay this much to Türkiye, we will calculate the interest and see who will be the creditor accordingly. That decision has not been made yet. That decision, that is, the court in D.C. will make. That court is continuing for enforcement. But in the meantime, we are talking about that first decision in Paris." "We made an objection to the court. But what we are looking at now is the enforcement case that is ongoing in Washington. We will look into it. Our receivables will be calculated from a long time ago. Accordingly, the arbitration case for the period after 2018 is still ongoing," he said.
"First we said we would not renew this agreement"
Stating that the current pipeline agreement with Iraq will not be extended, Bayraktar said, "We said a year ago that we would not renew this agreement. Because we say this. In other words, this agreement was signed in 2010, and Iraq took us to arbitration in 2014. Do you want to continue with such an agreement, that is, an agreement that causes disagreements? We do not want to do it. This agreement does not work. It has left us alone with arbitration. Therefore, there needs to be a new 'setup'. A new 'setup'. "There must be an agreement," he said.
Bayraktar said that they conveyed the draft of the new agreement to the Iraqi side, but the process was prolonged due to the elections. "Therefore, we wanted to have a new agreement, and we actually told them this a year ago. In other words, we said that we would not renew it, and we sent them a new draft agreement. But there were elections in Iraq. Now the government has just been established. Therefore, it is almost impossible to negotiate with them now and make it to the end of July. It is not something that can be done in three weeks," he said.
"We want to sign a new and more comprehensive ITP within a year"
Stating that they suggested BOTAŞ to step in for the transition process, Bayraktar continued his words as follows:
"As an interim solution, we told them to make a one-year oil transportation agreement with BOTAŞ. In other words, let BOTAŞ carry your oil for a year. In that one year, if we can reach an agreement in three months, let's reach an agreement in three months, if we can reach an agreement in six months, let's call it a new ITP, a more comprehensive new pipeline agreement. Include other things. You know, we have the goal of taking the line to Basra. Therefore, let's leave some time for that for negotiation. But also for July 27. "We said, 'Let BOTAŞ transport your oil from here to there. They told us that we would need a capacity of 750 thousand barrels, although today it is 180-200 thousand barrels, we said okay, we will allocate 750 thousand barrels to you. We want to sign a new ITP, that is, a more comprehensive ITP."
Stating that they aim to expand the scope of the new agreement, Bayraktar said, "But as I said, there is an extension from Kirkuk to Basra, there is an increase in capacity. We also met with the Iraqi Prime Minister. We said let's increase the capacity to 2.5 million barrels. If Kuwait wants, let Kuwait put its oil in this pipeline. If there are others who want it, let them put it from the gulf. We said comprehensive things such as let's build a natural gas pipeline right away. Let's dig it once. Let's put two pipelines. Qatar gas." "It may come, other gas sources may come, we talked about a lot of things," he said.
Emphasizing that arbitration processes are a part of the ongoing negotiations, Bayraktar said, "Yes, it will be a part of the negotiations along with all other issues."
Sharing the latest situation regarding BOTAŞ's one-year transportation proposal, Bayraktar said, "There are a couple of issues like this, the gap has not been closed yet, I hope it will be resolved. We are ready." - ANKARA