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Agreement would let 230,000 barrels of crude a day flow

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Exports from Iraqi Kurdistan expected to restart in days

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Norway's DNO and partner Genel Energy ( GEGYF ) yet to sign

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Companies are seeking arrears for past deliveries

Sept 24 (Reuters) - Eight oil companies operating in

Iraqi Kurdistan, representing over 90% of production, reached

agreements in principle with Iraq's federal and Kurdish regional

government (KRG) to resume oil exports, the group said on

Wednesday.

The agreement would mark a breakthrough in the deadlock and

allow around 230,000 barrels of crude a day to flow through the

Iraq-Turkey pipeline which has been suspended since March 2023.

"This framework, once signed and implemented, should allow

exports to restart in the coming days, while providing a path

toward longer-term arrangements," the group said in an emailed

statement.

The group includes six members of the Association of the

Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), representing eight

international oil companies in total, and two members outside

APIKUR - local KAR Group and Forza Petroleum, sources told

Reuters.

Two APIKUR members - Norway's DNO and UK's Genel

Energy ( GEGYF ) - have not signed the agreement yet, a source

with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The agreed framework maintained "the sanctity of existing

contracts" and provided surety of payment to the international

oil companies, the group said.

DNO did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Genel Energy ( GEGYF ) said it had no further comment.

On Tuesday, the two companies welcomed plans to restart the

exports, but said some tweaks were still needed to the proposed

terms, specifically to address KRG's arrears for past

deliveries.

Kurdistan has accumulated around $1 billion in arrears to

producers. DNO's estimated share of overdue receivables is about

$300 million.

The group said the KRG and IOCs also agreed to meet within

30 days of resuming exports to work towards creating a mechanism

for settling the outstanding debts.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline shut after the International

Chamber of Commerce ordered Turkey to pay Iraq $1.5 billion in

damages for unauthorised exports by the KRG. Turkey is appealing

but says it is ready to restart the pipeline.

Reuters reported last week that Iraq, OPEC's second-largest

producer, had given preliminary approval to a plan to restart

exports from Kurdistan.