*

DNO and Genel again seek payment assurances

*

Plan would restart pipeline shut since March 2023

*

230,000 bpd of crude would flow to Turkey

*

Iraqi cabinet meets to approve plan

(Updates with exports yet to restart, background and details

throughout)

BAGHDAD, Sept 23 (Reuters) -

Pipeline oil exports from Iraq's Kurdistan region to Turkey

had yet to restart on Tuesday despite hopes of a deal to end the

deadlock, as two key producers asked for debt repayment

guarantees.

The deal between Iraq's federal and Kurdish regional

governments and oil firms aims to resume exports of about

230,000 barrels per day of oil from Kurdistan to the global

market via Turkey, halted since March 2023.

Iraq's cabinet met on Tuesday with the deal on the agenda,

oil officials said. It was not immediately clear if it would go

ahead without DNO and Genel's participation.

Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, executive chairman of Norway's

DNO, the largest producer in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region,

proposed "easy fixes that can be quickly agreed" to the

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), DNO said, without saying

what they were. Its UK-based joint venture partner Genel said it

had yet to sign as it wanted certain adjustments, and assurances

on repayments of arrears.

PIPELINE SHUTDOWN STEMS FROM TURKEY DISPUTE

Kurdistan has accumulated around $1 billion in arrears to

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

$300 million.

"Importantly, as the largest producer, the arrears owed to

us by the KRG dwarf those of many of the others,"

Mossavar-Rahmani said.

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.

In the interim plan, the KRG commits to delivering at

least 230,000 bpd to Iraq's state oil marketer SOMO, while

keeping an additional 50,000 bpd for local use.

An independent trader would handle sales from Turkey's

Ceyhan port using SOMO's official prices.

Each month, SOMO would allocate crude equivalent to the

value of Kurdish deliveries, calculated by multiplying volumes

by $16 and dividing by SOMO's Kirkuk price to Europe.

For each barrel sold, $16 would be transferred to an

escrow account and distributed proportionally to producers. The

remaining revenue would go to SOMO.

Oil prices rose on reports of the deal stalling,

reversing earlier losses on oversupply concerns.

Iraq has frequently produced above the level agreed with

OPEC+ and earlier this month was one of several countries that

OPEC said would cut output through June to compensate for past

overproduction. Iraq is meant to scale back a cumulative 1.4

million bpd between August 2025 and June 2026.

Iraq exports around 3.4 million barrels of oil per day

from its southern ports.