Iraq expands Kirkuk oil operations amid Hormuz closure

Shafaq News- Kirkuk

Iraq has begun installing a crude oil unloading system at the K1 site in Kirkuk, including 12 electric pumps, to boost capacity and ease bottlenecks, the state-owned Oil Pipelines Company said on Tuesday.

The system is designed to speed up the transfer of crude from tanker trucks into storage tanks, improving flow and operational efficiency at the site.

Meanwhile, a source at the North Oil Company told Shafaq News that the project would reduce congestion during unloading and accelerate storage and internal transport. The work is being carried out in coordination between the two state firms.

The K1 site is part of Iraq’s northern oil network linked to the Kirkuk–Ceyhan pipeline, a key export route to Turkiye's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The focus on northern infrastructure has intensified as the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran disrupts exports through the Gulf, where most Iraqi crude is normally shipped.

Iraq resumed exports from Kirkuk to Turkiye in March, initially at around 170,000 to 250,000 barrels per day, after years of disruption. The pipeline had been largely inactive for more than a decade due to attacks and political disputes, including damage during the ISIS insurgency and tensions between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

With southern routes constrained, especially after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, which a fifth of the world's crude depends on, Iraq has increasingly relied on trucking and northern corridors to maintain flows.