The Iraqi government says it may consider shipping crude through Iran if talks with the local Kurdish administration on oil revenue sharing fall apart.
The autonomous Kurdish region is demanding a bigger share of the oil proceeds at a time when the Iraqi government is buckling under the pressure of lower oil prices and the costs of war on Daesh militants.
Officials of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) and the Kurdish Regional Government are about to meet, possibly next week, in a last-ditch effort to patch up differences.
"If the negotiations come to a close without an agreement, we will start to find a way in order to sell our oil because we need money, either to Iran or other countries," Iraq’s Deputy Oil Minister Fayadh al-Nema told Reuters.
Under the scenario, the Iraqi government would be shipping about 150,000 barrels per day of oil through Iran that is being produced from the fields in Kirkuk.
An Iraqi official said the two countries may work out an arrangement similar to Iran’s oil swap deals with Caspian nations, under which Iran would import Iraqi oil to its refineries and export an equivalent amount of its own crude on behalf of Baghdad from Iranian ports on the Persian Gulf.
