Turkey and Iraq have reached an interim agreement to extend an oil pipeline arrangement that expired on July 27, keeping crude moving through the 986 kilometer line that runs from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The deal runs for one year and is expected to be backdated to the expiry date, with flows continuing without interruption while negotiators worked through the terms.
The agreement reserves export capacity of as much as 750,000 barrels per day, according to Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Salim Al Rikabi. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar confirmed the flow capacity in a post on X. Reaching those volumes depends on security improvements, full production in Iraqi Kurdistan fields, and new infrastructure to move larger volumes of crude from southern to northern Iraq.
The pipeline had operated under a deal that stood for 53 years before it lapsed. The extension follows Turkish investment in upstream production around Kirkuk. State company Turkiye Petrolleri agreed to take a 15 percent stake in BP Energy Company of Kirkuk Limited, a consortium redeveloping oil and gas fields in the region, though financial terms were not disclosed.
The route matters because it gives Iraqi barrels an outlet to the Mediterranean that avoids the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint that has been rattled by conflict and disrupted exports in recent months. For a market watching closely for reliable supply, restoring and expanding a bypass line reduces the exposure of Iraqi crude to a single waterway and hands both governments a steadier revenue stream.