Kirkuk oil exports to Turkey may resume soon, official says

Oil exports from Iraq's Kirkuk via Turkey could resume at "any moment," the head of Iraq's State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) chief said Tuesday.

The SOMO chief noted that the Kurdistan region debt issue is obstructing the resumption of the oil exports via Turkey.

Back in February, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that Iraq was discussing with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey about the resumption of oil exports from Kirkuk to Turkey's Ceyhan port through the KRG-controlled pipeline, adding that oil exports from Kirkuk to Turkey would resume soon.

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).