Iraq’s oil minister said he’s hoping crude oil exports from the country’s northern Kurdistan region will restart in two days after it was halted almost two years ago following a payments dispute.

Oil prices slipped in Asia on Monday, extending losses from last week, on the prospect of a resumption of exports from Kurdistan's oilfields, while investors awaited clarity on talks to resolve Russia's war on Ukraine.

Iraqi Kurdistan authorities have agreed with the federal oil ministry to restart Kurdish crude exports based on available volumes, Kurdistan's regional government said

Iraq’s oil ministry has announced the resumption of oil exports from northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is piling pressure on Iraq to allow Kurdish oil exports to restart or face sanctions alongside Iran, eight sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The Donald Trump administration has intensified its efforts to push Iraq to resume Kurdish crude oil exports, under an implicit threat of economic sanctions. This move is part of

Kurdistan is set to resume oil exports by the end of March following a two-year halt due to a dispute with the Iraqi government.

Iraq plans to resume exporting 185,000 barrels per day from Kurdistan's oilfields via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline. A total of 300,000 bpd is available for export, with the rest used domestically. The resumption follows completed procedures to end a long-standing dispute and pending Turkish confirmation.

The president of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region signaled the likely resumption of oil exports next month, the latest optimism that an almost two-year shutdown that cost the nation some $19 billion in lost revenue could soon be over.

Oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region will resume next week, Iraq's oil minister said on Monday, resolving a near two-year dispute as ties between Baghdad and Erbil improve, potentially adding more supply to the oil market and weighing on prices.