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Basem Mohammed, the Undersecretary of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil for Extraction Affairs, announced on Monday that Baghdad is working to rehabilitate a pipeline that will allow them to pump 350,000 barrels per day of oil to Turkey by the end of the month. This move is expected to cause tension with foreign oil companies and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which has been closed for a decade, is being restarted as an alternative route for oil from the Kurdistan region. However, this move is in violation of production-sharing agreements between the Kurds and foreign companies using the KRG pipeline. The federal government plans to request these oil companies to sell their oil through the revived pipeline to Turkey.
The pipeline had ceased operations in 2014 following attacks by ISIS militants, with about 0.5 percent of global oil supplies passing through it. Iraqi officials have rejected a Kurdish request for a transit fee to be paid to Rosneft, a Russian oil company with a stake in the pipeline. Despite experimental pumping revealing leakage in some parts of the pipeline, repair operations are underway to address these issues.
The agreement between Baghdad and Ankara regarding the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline expires in mid-2025. Discussions on resuming operations on the old pipeline will be part of talks to extend this agreement.
Baghdad views these production-sharing agreements as illegal due to issues between them and the regional government.
Rehabilitation work on the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline is ongoing with efforts focused on repairing damaged parts within Iraq and establishing a pumping station
