Turkey, Iraq to sign 12-month extension of oil pipeline deal

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Turkey and Iraq are set to sign, within days, a ​one-year agreement to keep open the crude ‌oil pipeline between the two countries, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Thursday.

Their decades-old pipeline agreement, which ​governs exports through the pipeline, is due to ​expire on July 27.

"We have brought the agreement ⁠that will cover the next 12 months ​to the final stage. We aim to sign it ​in the coming days," Bayraktar, who was in Baghdad for an official visit, said in a statement, adding that oil ​flow from Iraq to Turkey's port of Ceyhan ​on the eastern Mediterranean coast will continue.

The pipeline had ‌remained ⁠offline for 2-1/2 years after an arbitration court ruled for Ankara to pay $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorised Iraqi exports Turkey received between 2014 ​and 2018. Flows ​resumed late ⁠last year.

In an earlier post on X, Bayraktar said he had ​a fruitful meeting with Iraq Oil Minister ​Basim ⁠Mohammed, during which they discussed oil and gas cooperation. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi also met ⁠with Bayraktar ​during his visit, according to ​his office.