Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani arrived in Turkey on Tuesday for talks with President Tayyip Erdogan including discussion of halted oil exports.

Erdogan met Barzani at the presidential palace in Ankara, the Turkish presidency said on Twitter, and published a photo of the two leaders shaking hands.

“Different issues should be discussed, including security in the region. But oil exports will have a top priority,” said a Kurdish senior official close to the KRG prime minister’s office.

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

Barzani’s visit is aimed at finding ways to accelerate the resumption of those exports, which are a vital source of cash for the Kurdish region, said another Kurdish official based in Baghdad.

Turkey wants to negotiate regarding the size of damages it was ordered to pay in the arbitration ruling and also seeks clarification on other open arbitration cases.

The Iraqi Kurdish region has lost more than $2.2 billion over the 87 days the pipeline has been shut, according to Reuters estimates based on exports of 375,000 barrels per day and the oil’s historical discount to benchmark Brent crude.

On Monday a Turkish energy technical delegation and Iraqi oil officials met in Baghdad on Monday to discuss the exports.

Iraqi oil officials told Reuters that further talks would be needed.

Barzani is also due to meet with Turkey’s foreign minister and senior government officials to “explore ways to strengthen relations between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey”, the KRG prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Additional reporting by Daren Batler in Istanbul; editing by Jason Neely)