Iraqi premier hails pipeline deal with Türkiye as strategic milestone for oil exports

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaydi on Friday described the newly signed agreement with Türkiye on the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline as a strategic milestone that will ensure uninterrupted Iraqi oil exports and deepen bilateral economic cooperation.

In a post on the US social media company X, Al-Zaydi said the agreement on transporting and loading Iraqi crude through the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan guarantees a minimum export capacity of 750,000 barrels per day.

“Iraq and Türkiye achieved an important strategic milestone to ensure the uninterrupted flow of our oil exports and strengthen economic cooperation,” he said.

The prime minister added that Iraqi and Turkish companies would immediately begin implementing the agreement, while the two governments would work through what he described as a carefully planned process to conclude a comprehensive framework agreement covering the oil, electricity and water resources sectors, as well as other areas of cooperation aimed at advancing development and stability.

Earlier Friday, Türkiye and Iraq signed a one-year agreement to maintain operations of the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline, preserving a strategic export route with a daily transportation capacity of up to 750,000 barrels while negotiations continue on a long-term framework.

The agreement was signed by Türkiye’s state pipeline operator BOTAS and Iraq’s state-owned oil companies, the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) and the North Oil Company (NOC), following talks in Ankara between Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Iraqi Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair.

Bayraktar described the agreement as a historic step in bilateral energy cooperation, saying the pipeline has become increasingly important as an alternative export route amid the Hormuz crisis, where around 20 million barrels of oil are effectively stranded in the Gulf.

He also said Türkiye aims to fully utilize the pipeline’s 1.5 million-barrel-per-day capacity and envisions transporting crude from Iraq, Kuwait and other Gulf countries to global markets through the Ceyhan route in the future.