Iraq and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington last week to rehabilitate and reconstruct the Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline, a project aimed at restoring a key export route from Iraqi oil fields to Syria’s Mediterranean coast and to reduce the dependence to the Strait of Hormuz.
The agreement was signed during the U.S.-Iraq Business Council meeting by Bassem Abdul Karim Nasr, head of Basra Oil Company, on behalf of Iraq, and Youssef Qablawi, CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company, on behalf of Syria, on July 17.
The U.S. State Department welcomed the agreement, describing the project as a “priority infrastructure project of bilateral and regional strategic significance.”
The State Department said both countries recognize the strategic objective of restoring the pipeline, adding that the project would have an initial transport capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil per
day.
The Iraqi News Agency (INA) also reported that Iraq and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding to rehabilitate the oil pipeline linking Haditha in Iraq to Baniyas in Syria, with U.S. energy company Chevron set to implement the project.
Separately, the agency added that Iraq is set to sign 50 agreements and memorandums of understanding with the U.S. worth $60 billion.
The pipeline, which runs from the oil-rich Kirkuk region in northern Iraq to Syria’s Mediterranean port of Baniyas, has been out of service since it was damaged during the 2003 U.S. invasion of
Iraq.
The announcement comes as global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has sharply declined in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, prompting countries to consider alternative routes.
