Türkiye and Iraq said on Saturday they have agreed to extend a key oil pipeline agreement by one year, just days after a top-level visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to Ankara, officials on both sides said.
In a post on X, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the agreement was signed following a "productive meeting" in Ankara with Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudair.
The Iraqi prime minister also hailed the deal in a post on X, describing it as "an important strategic milestone" that would involve "a minimum export capacity of 750,000 barrels per day."
The decades-old agreement on the pipeline – which carries Iraqi crude from Kirkuk to Türkiye's Mediterranean export terminal of Ceyhan, a key outlet for regional oil shipment – had expired on Monday.
The Iraq-Türkiye pipeline has been largely idle since 2023 after exports from Iraq's semi-autonomous northern region were halted following legal and commercial disputes, although exports through it resumed in a limited capacity last year.
"While our efforts continue toward a new long-term agreement for this pipeline ... we have implemented this transit arrangement covering a daily capacity of 750,000 barrels," Bayraktar wrote.
The signing of the agreement comes as Iraq moves to strengthen the resilience of its oil export infrastructure following disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S.-Iran war began in February, and is seen as a boost to fragile global energy markets.
Al-Zaidi said Iraqi and Turkish companies would begin implementing the agreement, while the two governments would push ahead with efforts "to finalize a comprehensive framework agreement covering the oil, electricity, and water resources sectors."
The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has a maximum capacity of about 1.5 million barrels per day, although actual flows have been well below that in recent years.
Bayraktar went to Baghdad for talks on oil and gas cooperation in early July, and on Tuesday, the Iraqi premier and several top ministers were in Ankara to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and their counterparts.
During the visit, Bayraktar said both countries were committed to "fully utilizing the existing infrastructure of Türkiye-Iraq energy cooperation."
Hormuz disruptions
Before the U.S.-Iran conflict, Iraq was exporting around 3.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in total, with most of those exports shipped through its southern terminals via the Strait of Hormuz.
The planned exports through the Türkiye pipeline would represent part of that total export capacity. It would not reach prewar levels but would represent an increase from the current exports of around 200,000 barrels per day.
Iraq relies heavily on oil revenues, which account for the vast majority of government income.
The signing of the deal comes only days after al-Zaidi visited Ankara for talks on security, trade, energy, transportation and water management, as well as joint infrastructure projects between the two neighbors.
One project under consideration is a pipeline that would connect southern Iraq's Basra to western Iraq's Haditha and from there to the Ceyhan port in Türkiye and the port of Baniyas on Syria's coast.