Türkiye, Iraq sign one-year oil pipeline deal

ANKARA

Turkish and Iraqi state energy companies have signed a one-year agreement covering 750,000 barrels per day of capacity on the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Aug. 1.

The agreement was signed by Türkiye’s state pipeline operator BOTAŞ, Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) and North Oil Company (NOC) after Bayraktar met Iraqi Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair and his delegation in Ankara.

The interim arrangement is intended to ensure more effective use of the line while Ankara and Baghdad negotiate a new long-term agreement.

The previous framework, rooted in an agreement signed in 1973, expired on July 27.

The pipeline carries Iraqi crude to Türkiye’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan for shipment to global markets.

Bayraktar said recent developments in oil markets had increased its importance for regional and global energy supply security.

Ankara aims to use the infrastructure at full capacity and eventually carry energy resources from elsewhere in the region through Ceyhan, the minister added.