Desperate to sell its oil, Iraq turns to Turkey amid standoff with Kurds
As Iraq looks to reroute oil to Turkey, Baghdad is also using the plan to push the Iraqi Kurds to greenlight exports through their territory.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani said that Iraq would begin exporting oil “directly” to Turkey “within a week” through a pipeline that bypasses Iraq's Kurdistan Region, in a bid to ease the mounting financial fallout from the US-Israel-Iran war.
“The Iraqi-Turkish pipeline for transporting Kirkuk oil, with a capacity of 200,000 to 250,000 barrels per day, is undergoing final testing and qualification,” Ghani said in a video statement released Monday. He added that “only 100 kilometers” remained untested and that testing and all other technical measures would be completed within a week before oil begins to flow.
Turkish-based industry sources, however, expressed skepticism about the claim. The pipeline has been in a state of heavy disrepair since the Islamic State (ISIS) occupied large swathes of Iraq beginning in 2014. “There are many technical challenges. It would take far longer to fix,” a Turkish source with close knowledge of the deliberations told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.
In any case, it remains unclear whether Ankara is on board with the scheme. Turkish officials had not yet commented as of the time of publication of this article.
