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

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

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.

Iraq has reaffirmed its commitment to the OPEC+ agreement, even as the resumption of oil exports from Kurdistan appears imminent.

Iraq will receive around 185,000 barrels of crude oil a day from the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan after exports resume via a pipeline to Turkey, a deputy Iraqi oil minister told the state-run Iraqi News Agency on Sunday without providing a time frame.