Oil exports from Iraq surge 43% via Turkiye

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq has increased crude oil exports through Turkiye's Ceyhan port by nearly 43%, from 350,000 to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), as it relies more on alternative routes after disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, OilPrice reported.

Citing a North Oil Company source, OilPrice said around 200,000 bpd of Basra crude is being transported by tanker trucks from southern Iraq to collection stations at Sarallu and Khurmala, before entering the northern pipeline system bound for Ceyhan. The remaining shipments come from oil fields in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and Kirkuk.

Read more: Iraq’s oil exports via Turkiye reach 500,000 bpd

The increase marks the highest export volume through the route since operations resumed in September 2025, following a suspension of about two and a half years over disputes between Baghdad and Erbil concerning oil export revenues.

Read more: Iraq–Turkiye pipeline restart reshapes energy balance

According to OilPrice, production from Iraq's southern oil fields fell by around 70% during the early weeks of the US-Israeli war on Iran, dropping from approximately 4.3 million to 1.3 million bpd as shipping disruptions restricted exports through the Strait of Hormuz. Production had recovered in recent months, with more crude exported through Ceyhan and the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq's overall crude exports rose 9.5% in October to 3.35 million bpd, approaching pre-war levels, according to tanker-tracking data, after a recovery in shipments from major Gulf Arab producers.

In the longer term, Iraq plans to develop a pipeline to Syria's Mediterranean coast to reduce its dependence on Hormuz, sources familiar with the plans told Reuters in August. The sources estimated that the project would require largely new infrastructure and about four years of construction.