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.



Japan Sets New 2035 Emissions Cut Goal 

A chimney is seen at the Keihin Industrial Zone as Mount Fuji (background L), Japan's highest mountain at 3,776 meters (12,388 feet), looms in the background as viewed from the observation deck of Kawasaki Marien in Kawasaki on January 24, 2022. (AFP)
A chimney is seen at the Keihin Industrial Zone as Mount Fuji (background L), Japan's highest mountain at 3,776 meters (12,388 feet), looms in the background as viewed from the observation deck of Kawasaki Marien in Kawasaki on January 24, 2022. (AFP)
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Japan Sets New 2035 Emissions Cut Goal 

A chimney is seen at the Keihin Industrial Zone as Mount Fuji (background L), Japan's highest mountain at 3,776 meters (12,388 feet), looms in the background as viewed from the observation deck of Kawasaki Marien in Kawasaki on January 24, 2022. (AFP)
A chimney is seen at the Keihin Industrial Zone as Mount Fuji (background L), Japan's highest mountain at 3,776 meters (12,388 feet), looms in the background as viewed from the observation deck of Kawasaki Marien in Kawasaki on January 24, 2022. (AFP)

Japan Tuesday pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent in the next decade from 2013 levels but climate campaigners said the target fell short of what was needed under the Paris Agreement to limit global warming.

Under the Paris accord, each country is supposed to provide a headline figure to the United Nations for cutting heat-trapping emissions by 2035, and a detailed blueprint for how to achieve this.

Japan is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels as the world's fifth largest single-country emitter of carbon dioxide after China, the United States, India and Russia.

On Tuesday Tokyo's environment ministry said the country would slash emissions 60 percent by the 2035 fiscal year.

The world's fourth-largest economy also aims to cut emissions by 73 percent by fiscal 2040 as part of its new Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) -- a voluntary pledge to be submitted to the UN later on Tuesday.

Nearly 200 nations had been required to deliver their fresh climate plans by February 10 but just 10 did so on time, according to a UN database tracking the submissions.

The Japanese ministry said Tuesday that its "ambitious targets (are) aligned with the global 1.5 degree Celsius goal and on a straight pathway towards the achievement of net zero by 2050".

But Masayoshi Iyoda from international environmental group 350.org noted that scientists say an emissions cut of 81 percent by 2035 is needed for Japan to honor its commitments to the 1.5 degree objective.

"This is a major failure in Japan's attempt to transition to a future of renewable energy that is fair and just," he told AFP.

Kazue Suzuki of Greenpeace Japan also said the new target was "far too low", calling for a 78 percent reduction given "our responsibility as an industrially advanced country".

- Renewable future? -

UN climate chief Simon Stiell has called the latest round of national pledges "the most important policy documents of this century".

Yet just a handful of major polluters handed in upgraded targets on time, with China, India and the European Union the biggest names on a lengthy absentee list.

There is no penalty for submitting late targets, which are not legally binding but act as an accountability measure to ensure countries are taking climate change seriously and doing their fair share toward achieving the Paris goals.

In 2016, Japan committed to a 26 percent reduction in emissions by 2030. It strengthened this in 2021 to 46 percent by 2030 compared to 2013 levels.

The Japanese government also on Tuesday approved its latest Strategic Energy Plan -- which includes an intention to make renewables the country's top power source by 2040.

Nearly 14 years after the Fukushima disaster, Japan also sees a major role for nuclear power to help it meet growing energy demand from AI and microchip factories.

So a previous pledge to "reduce reliance on nuclear power as much as possible" was dropped from the new plan.

A draft plan released in December had said Japan would jointly promote renewable energy and hydrogen fuel with its ally the United States.

But after President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the Paris Agreement last month, mentions of a US-led clean economy framework were deleted.

"We've made certain tweaks" following Trump's announcements, an industry ministry official told reporters Monday.

But "it doesn't mean Japan's broader efforts towards a 'green transformation' will be changed significantly", he said.

Nearly 70 percent of Japan's power needs in 2023 were met by power plants burning coal, gas and oil -- a figure Tokyo wants to slash to 30-40 percent over the next 15 years.

Almost all these fossil fuels must be imported, at a cost of around $470 million per day according to Japanese customs.

Under the new plans, renewables such as solar and wind are expected to account for 40-50 percent of electricity generation by 2040.