*
Sources say pipeline flows have yet to restart
*
Iraq awaits update from Turkey
(Adds detail on exports, official statements)
By Ahmed Rasheed, Amina Ismail and Maha El Dahan
BAGHDAD, April 4 (Reuters) - Iraq's federal government
and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) signed a temporary
agreement on Tuesday to restart northern oil exports through
Turkey, as part of a broader deal to end decades of political
and economic disputes.
Turkey stopped pumping about 450,000 b/d of Iraqi crude
through a pipeline from the Fish-Khabur border area to its
Ceyhan port on March 25 after Iraq won an arbitration case.
"The recent disruptions to oil exports from the Kurdistan
Region have hurt the country as a whole. This agreement brings
much needed revenues," KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said
in a statement.
Although the flows account for about 0.5% of global oil
supply, the stoppage forced oil firms in the region to halt
output or move production into rapidly-filling storage tanks,
and helped boost oil prices last week to nearly $80/bbl.
Barzani travelled to Baghdad on Tuesday to finalise the
agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, the
prime minister's media office said in a tweet.
But pipeline flows have yet to restart, two sources said on
Tuesday.
One source familiar with oil exports from the region, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, said that pipeline operators
have yet to receive an indication to restart flows.
The second source said Iraq awaited an update from Turkey.
Baghdad had said Turkey violated a joint agreement by
allowing the KRG to export oil to Ceyhan without its consent.
Under the deal, Iraq's state-owned marketing company SOMO
will have the authority to market and export KRG oil and the
revenues will be deposited in an account at the Iraqi Central
Bank under the control of the KRG, two Iraqi officials said.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorised to speak to the media.
Baghdad will have access to audit the account.
Barzani is also set to hold talks with Sudani over a
separate oil and gas dispute that has dragged on for nearly two
decades.
"Everyone must abide by this agreement and implement it,"
Sudani said in a joint news briefing with Barzani.
He said the deal was temporary until the budget law passes
in parliament, which he said "will cover all obligations and
solve all problems."
"We now have a framework for a draft budget law and, in the near future, discussions can begin on a new federal oil and gas law," Barzani said in his statement. (Reporting by Amina Ismail, Ahmed Rasheed, Maha El Dahan, and Rowena Edwards; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Alexander Smith and Grant McCool)
