KIRKUK, Iraq: Iraqi Kurdistan has begun pumping crude to an export pipeline to test disused infrastructure, after the autonomous region's premier said exports would restart soon, a source said Thursday. “The pumping operations gradually started just before midnight, and 10,500 barrels were pumped experimentally because pipelines were non-functioning,” said an official from state-owned North Oil Company, on condition of anonymity. The autonomous Kurdistan region halted exports in October 2009 after a dispute with the central government over payments. The flow on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline connecting north Iraq to Turkey and the Mediterranean “will gradually increase depending on the pumping operations in the line and production operations of oil fields,” the official said. He added that crude would be pumped “on a regular basis” through the pipeline, but did not say how much. Iraqi Kurdistan is preparing to resume oil exports “soon,” Kurdistan's Prime Minister Barham Saleh said Wednesday. “Work is going on right now regarding resuming oil exports soon,” Saleh said. “Companies have started conducting tests of the pumps to restart operations.” Baghdad and authorities in Kurdistan have argued over payments, revenue sharing and the central government's refusal to recognize Kurdish oil contracts. But last month, the two sides appeared to reach an agreement whereby Baghdad agreed to pay for the expenses of oil companies working in the region and exports were to have resumed on Tuesday. Oil revenues account for the lion's share of Iraq's government income. Exports from the region were stopped over the dispute between Iraqi Kurdistan and the Arab-led government in Baghdad over the legality of contracts awarded by the Kurds to foreign companies. – Agence France
