While limited independent exports were shut-in as a show of good faith in budget negotiations, meeting KRG export proclamations requires technical upgrades too.
Along with legal tactics, Oil Ministry looking at technical options to foil KRG plans for exclusive use of ITP.
IOCs, Ministry need time to finalize contract terms while security and the election loom large.
Company confirms future shipments as the KRG more aggressively markets oil independently of Baghdad.
Long-anticipated work has begun in KRG blocks, including in disputed territories.
Construction, attacks and weather hampered output but oil exports in 2014 should outperform expectations, though the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline has already been attacked.
Kurdistan has been trucking large volumes of crude oil through Iran, a trade set to change as the KRG plans to begin exporting crude by pipeline
With a dispute over Basra's 2014 budget allocation looming, the governor of Iraq's oil capital is threatening to launch protests and even shut in oil exports.
After months of solicitation, the Iraqi Oil Ministry has produced a contract model that IOCs appear happy with, though the real test will be at the bidding round.
In a final stage of testing before exports can begin, Kurdistan has begun sending crude through its new pipeline and into Turkish territory, despite unresolved conflicts with Baghdad.
