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.

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

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.

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.

Iraq is awaiting a response from Turkey “within the next 24 hours” regarding the readiness of the pipeline designated for the Kurdistan Region’s oil exports, an official from Iraq’s oil ministry said on Sunday.

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.