Turkey and Iraq Sign One-Year Oil Pipeline Deal
Al Jazeera Staff
Turkey and Iraq have signed a one-year agreement to keep 750,000 barrels of crude flowing daily through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. The deal comes as Iraq seeks alternative export routes amid Gulf shipping disruptions and global market volatility.
The Turkish and Iraqi governments have signed a one-year agreement to continue transporting crude oil through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline from Iraq to Turkey, just days after a high-level visit by Iraq's Prime Minister to Ankara.
The agreement was signed on Saturday between Turkey's state pipeline operator BOTAS and Iraqi state oil companies SOMO and NOC, days after the previous decades-long bilateral deal expired last Monday.
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on social media platform X that the deal was signed following a "productive" meeting in Ankara with Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudair. "While we continue our efforts toward a new long-term agreement for this pipeline, we have implemented a transit agreement with a daily capacity of 750,000 barrels," he wrote.
The Iraq-Turkey pipeline has a maximum capacity of about 1.5 million barrels per day, but actual flows in recent years have been far below that level.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi welcomed the agreement, calling it "an important strategic milestone." He also said the two governments would continue working to finalize a framework agreement covering oil, electricity, water resources, and other cooperation areas to enhance mutual benefits and support development and stability.
The signing came four days after a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister al-Zaidi in Ankara. Minister Bayraktar emphasized that the agreement holds a "more strategic position" given current developments in global oil markets.
Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year has forced Baghdad to seek alternative export routes. The oil flow between the two countries is expected to extend Iraq's sole oil export route to the Mediterranean.
Iraq's oil exports have dropped by more than 80% in the weeks following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, with monthly oil revenues falling from about $6 billion to under $2 billion due to disrupted shipping through the Gulf.
According to Turkish data, the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline currently carries only about 170,000 barrels per day, compared with its 1.5 million barrel-per-day capacity, mostly from fields in Iraq's Kurdistan region, which has faced repeated drone and missile attacks since the Iran conflict erupted.
Ankara wants to expand the pipeline to transport crude from southern Iraqi fields, with both sides saying negotiations on a long-term deal are ongoing.
