Iraq targets 5 million bpd oil exports via Türkiye, Syria

AA Photo

Iraq boosted its crude oil export capacity to more than 3 million barrels per day and plans to reach 5 million by developing new routes to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair said Sept. 5 the government aims to expand alternative outlets to the Mediterranean Sea.

Exports reached around 3 million bpd since the start of September, Khudair told the official Iraqi News Agency.
The government wants to increase capacity to 5 million once strategic pipelines linking Iraqi fields to Fishkhabur in the north and Syria’s port of Banias are completed, the minister said.

Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zeidi ordered work to proceed in August on two strategic pipeline routes to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz.

The northern route will connect southern oil fields with Fishkhabur near the Turkish border.
The line opens access to the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline and Türkiye’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
The western route will link Haditha with Syria’s Banias port.

The connection gives Iraq another outlet to the Mediterranean and potentially revives a historic oil corridor between the two countries.

Iraq holds around 145 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.

Oil output fell to around 1.3 million bpd during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran beginning in late February.
Production dropped from 3.3 million before the conflict and began to recover in July and August.

The push for alternative export routes follows continuing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz linked to tensions between Washington and Tehran.