Turkey, Iraq Extend Oil Pipeline Agreement

Turkey and Iraq are set to sign, within days, a one-year agreement to keep open the crude oil pipeline between the two countries, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Thursday.

Their decades-old pipeline agreement, which governs exports through the pipeline, is due to expire on July 27.

"We have brought the agreement that will cover the next 12 months to the final stage. We aim to sign it in the coming days," Bayraktar, who was in Baghdad for an official visit, said in a statement, adding that oil flow from Iraq to Turkey's port of Ceyhan on the eastern Mediterranean coast will continue.

The pipeline had remained offline for 2-1/2 years after an arbitration court ruled for Ankara to pay $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorised Iraqi exports Turkey received between 2014 and 2018. Flows resumed late last year.

In an earlier post on X, Bayraktar said he had a fruitful meeting with Iraq Oil Minister Basim Mohammed, during which they discussed oil and gas cooperation. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali ⁠al-Zaidi also met with Bayraktar during his visit, according to his office.

(Reuters)