Kirkuk-Baniyas oil pipeline revival expected next week

Shafaq News- Baghdad

The United States, Iraq, and Syria are expected to unveil plans next week to revive the historic Kirkuk-Baniyas oil pipeline, creating an alternative export route for Iraqi crude and reducing the country’s reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, UK-based Middle East Eye (MEE) reported on Saturday.

Citing senior Iraqi and regional officials, the publication indicated that the announcement is likely to coincide with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi’s mid-July visit to Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump. US envoy Tom Barrack has been coordinating the initiative, which would restore the roughly 500-mile pipeline connecting Iraq’s northern oil fields with Syria’s Mediterranean port of Baniyas.

The line, shut down in the 1980s and later damaged during the 2003 Iraq war, would require extensive reconstruction over an estimated two to three years.

Read more: Kirkuk–Baniyas Pipeline: Iraq’s direct oil lifeline to the Mediterranean

“Iraq has started to see Syria in a different light. Prior to the war, it was scepticism. The reality of the war made it clear that Iraq needs Syria,” independent Iraqi analyst Sarhang Hamasaeed said.

The initiative, according to MEE, gathered momentum after disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz highlighted Iraq’s dependence on the route, which carries about 95% of the country’s oil exports. US companies and regional partners have already been selected for preliminary work on pipeline segments between Kirkuk and Haditha and the Syrian port of Baniyas. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani is also expected to attend the signing ceremony.

Read more: No exit but Hormuz: Iraq's economic vulnerability exposed

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