The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) increased crude exports by 2.6 per cent in May compared with the previous months, according to its Iraqi Kurdistan’s Natural Resources Ministry.

Exports through the Iraqi Kurdistan pipeline network to Ceyhan, Turkey, rose to an average of 577,621 barrels a day (b/d) compared with 562,633 b/d reported in April.

The figures include exports from fields operated by the KRG and fields operated by the Baghdad central government’s North Oil Company (NOC) in the Kirkuk province.

KRG-operated fields contributed 407,111 b/d to the total with Kirkuk assets adding 170,509 b/d, the regional government said.

“The KRG remains on track to meet its oil export commitments under the 2015 federal budget and is pleased that KRG export volumes, already at record levels, continue to increase,” the ministry said in a statement.

In December, Erbil agreed with Baghdad to export 550,000 b/d of crude on behalf of the central government’s State Organisation for Marketing of Oil (Somo), ending a long-standing dispute over the status of exports. In return, the KRG would be guaranteed its 17 per cent share of the Iraqi federal budget.