Iraq aims to export 250,000 barrels daily via a rehabilitated pipeline to Turkey after war disrupted its main southern export routes.
BAGHDAD: Iraq is hoping to resume oil exports by shipping up to 250,000 barrels per day to a Turkish port via a rehabilitated pipeline, its oil minister said, after the US-Israeli war on Iran cut off its main export route.
The proposed volume would represent just a fraction of the roughly 3.5 million barrels per day that Iraq exported before the conflict, which primarily flowed through its southern Basra port and the now severely disrupted Strait of Hormuz.
Authorities are working to restore an old pipeline linking the northern Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, which has been out of service for years since being damaged by the Islamic State group in 2014.
Oil Minister Hayan Abdel Ghani said late Sunday that the pipeline’s rehabilitation is “complete, but there is a 100-kilometre section that needs to be inspected”.
Teams will “conduct a hydrostatic test, which is the final phase of the pipeline’s rehabilitation”, hopefully “within a week”, Ghani added, citing an export target of roughly 250,000 bpd.
The pipeline’s use, however, requires “contact with the Turkish side and an agreement on logistical and technical issues”, according to oil expert Assem Jihad.
Baghdad had initially sought to send exports to Ceyhan via another pipeline running through the autonomous Kurdistan region, but Ghani confirmed that “so far, no agreement has been reached” as relations with the federal government have deteriorated.
The minister acknowledged that “Iraqi oil exports were halted two or three days after the start of the war”, prompting the urgent search for alternative routes.
The country is also considering the possibility of transporting 200,000 barrels per day by tanker trucks, primarily via Jordan and Syria, to mitigate the crisis.
Iraq derives more than 90% of its state revenue from oil exports, leading experts to warn that a prolonged halt risks the government’s ability to pay civil servants and could trigger a severe foreign currency shortage.
The Sun Malaysia
