IRAQ IS PREPARING TO EXPORT ITS OIL VIA TÜRKIYE, JORDAN, EGYPT, AND SAUDI ARABIA… SYRIA IS ON HOLD
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Thursday plans for external oil connections with four countries: Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. It noted that work on the Kirkuk-Banias pipeline has been postponed due to the situation in Syria, as the ministry explained that the security situation in Syria prevents Iraq from taking actual steps to restore the pipeline.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry, Hisham Al-Alawi, said in a statement to the official agency, which was followed by the 964 network , that “work on the Kirkuk-Banias pipeline has been postponed due to the security situation in Syria, which prevents us from taking actual steps in this direction,” indicating that “Iraq has several alternatives for external oil connections, including through Turkey and Jordan to Egypt, in addition to Saudi Arabia.”
He added that “the Iraqi government has worked over the past years to rehabilitate the oil export pipeline through Turkey, and there are talks with Jordan and Egypt,” noting that “Iraq has adopted the project to link the oil fields through Haditha, and discussions were about implementing a project to complete this link through Jordan to Egypt, but work on that has not started.”