Iraq: Baghdad tries to stop KRG oil sales via Turkey

On 23 May, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) issued a bold statement saying it had completed its first sales of crude oil via Turkey, defying Baghdad’s insistence that all crude must be sold via the State Organisation for Marketing of Oil (SOMO). The KRG and the federal government have been tussling over the issue for months and, since December – with negotiations ongoing – the KRG had been exporting crude to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and storing it there, saying it would sell it once political agreement was reached.