Shafaq News- Kirkuk

Iraq is preparing to increase exports of Basrah crude through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) within two weeks, as Baghdad seeks to diversify its oil export routes, a source told Shafaq News on Wednesday.

An official at Iraq’s North Oil Company explained that around 400 tanker trucks transport crude daily from the Zubair station in Basra province to the K1 station in Kirkuk. The crude is then unloaded through 28 receiving points at the North Oil Company facility before being pumped through pipelines linking the K1 station to the Sarlu pumping station and onward through the Kurdistan Region’s network to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

“About 90,000 bpd of Basrah crude are currently being exported through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline,” the official added, noting that total exports through the route currently stand at around 230,000 bpd, including nearly 30,000 bpd from the Kurdistan Region, while the remaining volumes originate from southern oilfields, particularly Basra.

Oil expert Ali Khalil described the increased reliance on the northern export corridor as a strategic move aimed at diversifying Iraq’s oil outlets. He also argued that transporting crude from southern Iraq to the north by tanker trucks before pumping it through pipelines gives the Oil Ministry and the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) greater operational flexibility, particularly amid fluctuations in global energy markets.

Iraq relies on multiple export routes, primarily through southern ports in Basra, while northern flows have faced periodic legal and technical disruptions that have affected shipments from Kirkuk fields.

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