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Iraqi Kurds Press Ahead With Pipeline Plans

Despite protests from Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq is moving ahead with plans to develop the infrastructure for an oil pipeline to Turkey, reports Abdel Hamid Zebari.
Employees of the state-run South Oil Company (SOC) join a new oil storage tank to the oil pipelines near the southern city of Basra January 14, 2013. The head of the state-run South Oil Company said the new facility will add a capacity of one million barrels to the existing 5.5 million barrels available. REUTERS/Atef Hassan (IRAQ - Tags: ENERGY CIVIL UNREST)
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In light of escalating quarrels over oil between the Iraqi federal government in Baghdad and the Iraqi Kurdistan region — which maintains a quasi-independent authority — the Kurdish side insists on moving forward with developing its infrastructure in the oil sector. It will extend a pipeline connecting Kurdistan’s wells to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey, a move that will give the region independence in terms of energy and oil should the pipeline be completed.

Turkey has thus far not responded to the Kurdistan region's request to extend the new pipeline. Ankara has said that it is still studying the project. Meanwhile, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Nechirvan Barzani, said on Jan. 7 that "the region is serious about extending the pipeline to Turkey."

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