Iraq Set to Reopen Pipeline as Kurdish Talks Stall

Apr 8, 2024 | Middle East Monitor
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Iraq is repairing a pipeline that could allow it to send 350,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to Turkiye by the end of the month, Reuters has reported. The move is likely to rile foreign oil companies and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The reopening of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which has been closed for a decade, will provide a rival route to a pipeline from the Kurdistan region that has been shut for a year, just as talks between Baghdad and the KRG on resuming exports have stalled. Iraq deems production-sharing agreements between the Kurds and foreign companies using the KRG’s pipeline to be illegal.