Page 4 - MEOG Week 40 2021

MEOG COMMENTARY MEOG

Iraq looks

to improve

export options

Baghdad and Ankara are planning to resume oil flows via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan
pipeline as Iraq works to expand oil production and its routes to market.

IRAQ AS Baghdad embarks on an ambitious campaign strategic pipeline to transfer crude oil” from the
to increase oil production by 3mn barrels per day Gulf to Europe.
(bpd) over the next six years, the country is also The Kirkuk-Ceyhan Pipeline, which is often
WHAT: renewing its efforts to expand its export infra- also referred to as the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline
High-level discussions structure capabilities. (ITP), consists of two strings, which originally
have begun between Iraq Despite existing pipelines connecting the had an original combined nameplate capacity of
and Turkey to reopen the country with Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, 1.6mn bpd, with the wider, 46-inch (1,168-mm)
key crude conduit. none of these are functional and the country pipe capable of carrying 1.1mn bpd and the nar-
remains heavily reliant on the Al Basrah Oil Ter- rower 40-inch (1,016-mm) line 500,000 bpd.
WHY: minal (ABOT) and Khor Al Amaya Oil Termi- However, following years of sabotage and dis-
Iraq is working to add nal (KAAOT) facilities on the Gulf. repair, Kirkuk-Ceyhan has rarely been capable
3mn bpd of oil production Iraq has over the past decade sought to ease of achieving anywhere near 500,000 bpd and the
by 2027 and it has long its dependence on Gulf export infrastructure, Iraqi segment of the facility has not been opera-
been keen to diversify its and recent updates indicate that momentum tional since the rise of so-called IS in 2014.
export routes. may now be building behind these efforts. The Iraqi and Turkish sections meet near a
metering station at the border town of Fishkha-
WHAT NEXT: Kirkuk-Ceyhan bour. Meanwhile, a pipeline built by the Kurdis-
Baghdad is also engaged Last week, the Ministry of Oil (MoO) announced tan Regional Government (KRG) in 2013, which
on major projects that the governments of Iraq and Turkey would runs from the Taq Taq field via Khurmala, also
to expand its export work to reopen the 970-km pipeline that trans- connects to the Turkish line at Fishkhabour. This
capabilities via the Gulf ports Iraqi crude from Kirkuk to export facilities line was designed to carry 700,000 bpd.
and via Jordan as it seeks in Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean coast.
to increase market share Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar met Jordan bids
and control more of the with the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad Ali Meanwhile, a major new conduit has been in
oil value chain. Riza Guney to discuss plans “to rehabilitate the the planning stage to connect Iraqi oilfields with

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 40 06•October•2021