International oil companies operating in Kurdistan continue to smuggle over 1,000 oil tankers daily amid a pipeline shutdown since March 2023. According to Reuters investigations, this illicit trade routes crude through Iran and Turkey, generating approximately $200 million monthly despite regulatory challenges.

Although Kurdistan hasn't been able to export its oil through a pipeline in more than a year, crude still leaves the semi-autonomous area of Iraq and travels on tank trucks to the Iranian border.

According to a Reuters investigation, more than 1,000 of these tank trucks are thought to be shipping at least 200,000 barrels of Kurdish oil per day (bpd) to Iran and Turkey.

The transaction is profitable, especially when compared to the difficulties the Kurdistan regional administration has faced in the absence of oil earnings over the past year, even if the price of the crude being smuggled out of the northern semi-autonomous territory is allegedly around $40 per b...