Crude oil is flowing through the Kurdish-controlled Iraq-Turkey pipeline at 650,000-700,000 b/d and the line's pumping capacity will be lifted to 1 million b/d by 2016, the Kurdistan Regional Government's natural resources minister said Tuesday.
Ashti Hawrami, speaking at a Kurdistan oil conference in London, said: "We could have been there by now with IS [Islamic State militant group] in 2014, stopped work and halted activities. Particularly explorers slowed construction", he said.
Although more than a year behind schedule, Hawrami was confident the increase would be completed in 2016. "To do that, we need to ensure the oil companies are being paid. We should not fall back on that", he said.
The KRG has faced difficulties making regular payments to international oil company contractors looking to recover their costs. The companies, in turn, have struggled to justify further capital expenditure.
Payments for November to the contractors were delayed by 7-10 days, Hawrami said, adding they were authorized Monday.
KRG production totaled 18.418 million barrels in October, or 594,126 b/d, compared with around 442,000 b/d in January, according to natural resources ministry data Tuesday.
Exports through the KRG pipeline to Turkey in October were 595,528 b/d, including 156,455 b/d from Iraq's North Oil Company.
The KRG's direct exports have earned about $3.3 billion this year, along with nearly $2 billion paid by the federal Iraqi government, though payments from Baghdad ceased in June.
