Shafaq News- Baghdad

Saudi Arabia has given preliminary approval to revive a long-idle oil export pipeline with Iraq, but the project would require a replacement line, with Baghdad covering part of the cost, informed sources told Shafaq News on Saturday.

Iraq has repeatedly raised the proposal with Riyadh, which expressed willingness to update the bilateral agreement once joint technical committees are formed, according to the sources.

The pipeline has been out of service since 1990, but disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have renewed interest in restoring the export route. Saudi Arabia favors building a replacement because rehabilitating the existing line would cost nearly as much as constructing a new one.

The sources explained that Riyadh has repurposed the section within its territory to transport Saudi crude from the country's east to the Red Sea. Any agreement to revive the joint route would therefore require Iraq to rebuild its own section and the two countries to reach a political understanding.

Another obstacle is Saudi Arabia's 2001 confiscation of the Iraqi pipeline section within its territory. Both countries would need to resolve outstanding ownership and legal rights before proceeding.

Stretching approximately 1,568 kilometers from the Zubair oilfield in Iraq's southern Basra province to the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu, the pipeline was built in the 1980s and stopped operating following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

On August 29, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi called for accelerating a crude oil export pipeline project, citing its strategic importance in diversifying export routes and expanding the country's export capacity.