Iraq completes Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline repairs

Shafaq News/ Iraq's state-owned North Oil Company has finished repairing a key pipeline linking its northern oilfields to Turkiye's Mediterranean coast, a company source said on Wednesday.

"The pipeline, repeatedly targeted by ISIS militants, is now ready to pump crude oil from Kirkuk to the Ceyhan export terminal," the source added. However, the resumption of exports hinges on a deal between Baghdad and Ankara.

North Oil Company has conducted test pumping operations along the entire length of the pipeline, successfully moving crude from Kirkuk to the Baiji refinery and onwards to the Turkish border.

"The company currently produces between 300,000 and 375,000 barrels per day (bpd), with a portion allocated for domestic consumption and exports to Jordan." The source explained.

Oil expert Ali Khalil said the pipeline's repair is a significant step but stressed the need for a political agreement between Baghdad and Ankara to allow full resumption of exports. "Kirkuk's capacity is estimated at around 300,000 bpd, with potential for increased output."

The reopening of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which has been shut for a decade, would provide a rival route to a pipeline from the Kurdistan region that has been closed for a year as talks between Baghdad and the KRG on resuming exports have stalled.

Baghdad deems production-sharing agreements between the Kurds and foreign companies using the KRG's pipeline illegal.

The federal government in Baghdad will require oil companies to negotiate with it to sell their oil via the revived pipeline to Turkiye, potentially angering the Kurds, who rely almost entirely on oil revenue.

Exports via the 960 km (600 miles) pipeline were halted in 2014 after repeated attacks by Islamic State militants. It once handled about 0.5% of global supply.

The KRG's pipeline was halted on March 25, 2023, after an arbitration court ruled it violated provisions of a 1973 treaty by facilitating oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region without Baghdad's consent.

Negotiations to restart it have faltered as Ankara, the KRG, and the federal government have made conflicting demands.