Baku, August 1, AZERTAC

Türkiye and Iraq signed a one-year agreement on Friday 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 as the two countries negotiate a new long-term framework, Anadolu Agency reported.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar met Iraqi Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair and his delegation at the ministry, according to a statement by Türkiye's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.

Following the meeting, 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), signed the crude oil transportation agreement.

The agreement was signed by BOTAS General Manager Abdulvahit Fidan, SOMO Director General Ali Nizar Al-Shatri, and NOC Director General Faisal Hammadi Ramadan.

Interim agreement, signed as negotiations continue on a new long-term arrangement for the pipeline, provides for the transportation of up to 750,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline has served as a strategic energy corridor between the two countries for nearly half a century.

Bayraktar said the steps taken following the meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaydi marked a historic milestone in bilateral energy cooperation.

- Full utilization of pipeline targeted

Bayraktar said the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline contributes not only to commercial ties between the two countries but also to global energy security.

"At a time when the world is facing the Hormuz crisis and around 20 million barrels of oil are effectively stranded in the Gulf, this pipeline is of tremendous importance as an alternative export route," he said.

Noting that Türkiye has operated the twin pipeline system stretching from Silopi to the Mediterranean export terminal at Ceyhan for nearly 50 years, Bayraktar said BOTAS is responsible for operating the pipeline as well as storage and loading activities at the terminal.

He said Türkiye aims to fully utilize the pipeline's daily capacity of 1.5 million barrels, adding that, alongside Iraqi crude, oil from Kuwait and other Gulf countries could also be transported to global markets via the route in the future.

Bayraktar also said Türkiye's refineries were originally designed to process crude from the region, with Iraqi and Kirkuk crude remaining among the grades most commonly refined in the country.

Separately, Bayraktar met Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaydi in Baghdad on July 9, where they discussed the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline. Al-Zaydi later paid an official visit to Türkiye on July 28, during which Turkish Petroleum acquired a 15% stake in bp's Kirkuk-based joint venture.

The project covers the Baba and Avanah domes, as well as the Bai Hassan, Jambur and Khabbaz fields in Kirkuk, one of Iraq's key hydrocarbon-producing regions. The contract area is estimated to contain more than 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent in hydrocarbon resources in its initial phase.

Source: azertag.az