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Iraq to Reach Deal to Resume Kurdistan Oil Output within Three Days, Says Minister

This file photo taken on October 17, 2017 shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multi-ethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. (AFP)
This file photo taken on October 17, 2017 shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multi-ethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. (AFP)
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Iraq to Reach Deal to Resume Kurdistan Oil Output within Three Days, Says Minister

This file photo taken on October 17, 2017 shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multi-ethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. (AFP)
This file photo taken on October 17, 2017 shows excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multi-ethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. (AFP)

Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani expects to reach an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and foreign oil companies to resume oil production from the Kurdish region’s oilfields within three days, he said on Sunday.

Abdel-Ghani said during a visit to Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan, that Iraq has reached an "understanding" with Türkiye in relation to resumption of northern oil exports through the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline.

Türkiye halted 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of northern exports through the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline from March 25 after an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration ruling.

The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of about $1.5 billion for unauthorized exports by the KRG between 2014 and 2018.

Abdel-Ghani and top federal oil officials on Sunday started meetings with the KRG's ministry of natural resources and senior Kurdish energy officials to discuss the matter.

"The purpose of this meeting is to resolve all issues to facilitate resumption of oil production and exports," Abdel-Ghani told reporters in Erbil.

"First step is to agree with the region and companies on adjusting their existing contracts to be consistent with Iraq's constitution. We could reach a deal in three days."

Iraqi government oil officials met representatives of the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) for the first time on Wednesday to discuss a resumption of flows to Türkiye.

APIKUR's members include international oil and gas companies that have a direct or indirect interest in upstream oil or gas contracts in Iraq's Kurdistan region, many of which have had to stop output because of the pipeline closure.

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Boeing Reports $11.8 bln Loss, Largest since 2020

The Boeing logo is seen on the side of a Boeing 737 MAX at the Farnborough International Airshow, in Farnborough, Britain, July 20, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
The Boeing logo is seen on the side of a Boeing 737 MAX at the Farnborough International Airshow, in Farnborough, Britain, July 20, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
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Boeing Reports $11.8 bln Loss, Largest since 2020

The Boeing logo is seen on the side of a Boeing 737 MAX at the Farnborough International Airshow, in Farnborough, Britain, July 20, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
The Boeing logo is seen on the side of a Boeing 737 MAX at the Farnborough International Airshow, in Farnborough, Britain, July 20, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/File Photo

28 (Reuters) - Boeing on Tuesday reported an annual loss of $11.83 billion, its largest since 2020, as it grappled with problems at its commercial and defense units and the fallout from a crippling strike by US West Coast factory workers.

The loss demonstrates the challenges facing CEO Kelly Ortberg in turning around the planemaker as it cedes more ground to rival Airbus in the delivery race and comes under the crosshairs of regulators and customers following a series of missteps.

Ortberg, who took the reins of the planemaker in August, however, said the company was making progress on restoring stability to its struggling production lines after a harrowing mid-air accident in 2024 raised concerns about the safety of its jets.

Boeing's fourth-quarter results included "disappointing" charges in several fixed-price defense programs, Ortberg said, while adding that the company was "now more proactive and clear-eyed on the risks" to the programs, Reuters reported.

The company's Defense, Space & Security business has lost $3.15 billion in the first nine months of 2024.

The planemaker last week flagged an overall fourth-quarter loss of about $4 billion, nearly triple the size expected by Wall Street.

Ortberg reiterated the company's four-part plan to turn the business around including undertaking a "multi-year journey" to fix Boeing's culture, "perhaps the most important change we need to make."

After banking record-high profits in the 2010s, Boeing has bled more than $20 billion since 2019 after two fatal crashes of its best-selling 737 MAX jet triggered production quality and safety concerns and worries that it had misled regulators during the plane's certification process.

The COVID-19 pandemic further squeezed the company, while the mid-air panel blowout on a nearly new 737 MAX in early 2024 dragged Boeing into another crisis.

"We have completed deep dives on all of our challenging fixed-price development programs," Ortberg said on Tuesday in a letter to employees.

Ortberg added Boeing has made progress with its supply chain and has returned to an output rate of five 787 jets per month at the end of 2024, despite delays in areas like seats.

Boeing's commercial planes division, now focused on getting three of its models certified, has a good handle on fixing a thrust link issue uncovered on its 777X widebody, which resumed flight tests earlier this month, he added.

Ortberg was guarded in his message about the status of solving problems with anti-icing systems on the 737-7 and -10 models. The company is "still working through the testing phase focusing on finalization of the anti-icing design solution," he said.

The company continues to invest in "core businesses while streamlining our portfolio in areas that are not core to our future," he said.