Iraq’s Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair announced that the country’s crude oil export capacity had exceeded 3 million barrels per day.
Khudair said Iraq had been able to export 3 million barrels of crude oil per day since the beginning of September. The government aims to raise daily export capacity to 5 million barrels after completing strategic pipelines.
Two strategic routes are planned
The plan to increase exports includes completing pipelines extending to the Fishkhabur region in northern Iraq and the port of Baniyas on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. The plan also envisages developing oil export routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
On August 29, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zeidi ordered the completion of the strategic oil pipeline project. The project consists of the Basra-Haditha-Fishkhabur and Haditha-Baniyas routes.
The Basra-Haditha-Fishkhabur pipeline is planned to connect Iraq’s southern oil fields to Fishkhabur, near the Turkish border, via Haditha. The pipeline will connect to the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, allowing oil to be exported through the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan and creating an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz.
The Haditha-Baniyas pipeline will extend from western Iraq to Syria’s port of Baniyas. The route is expected to provide Iraq with an additional export outlet and allow Syria to restore the oil pipeline previously used between the two countries.
Technical details of the project reviewed
Prime Minister al-Zeidi reviewed the technical and economic details of the pipeline during a meeting with Oil Minister Khudair, ministry officials and representatives of the companies implementing the project. The meeting addressed the project’s long-term development impact, export routes and the volumes of oil expected to be transported through the two pipelines.
Al-Zeidi instructed the Oil Ministry to provide the necessary conditions for the companies implementing the project to continue their work. The prime minister said the crude oil export pipeline project would diversify export routes and strengthen Iraq’s export capacity.
Iraq’s plan to distribute its oil exports across different routes has strategic importance for the country’s energy revenues and access to foreign markets.
