Iraq-Türkiye oil pipeline to resume this week, minister says

ABU DHABI

Operations on the crude oil pipeline from Iraq, suspended for approximately six months, will resume within the week, Türkiye's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said.

"Within this week, we will start operating the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline after resuming operations. It will be able to supply almost half a million barrels to global oil markets," Bayraktar said during the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 2.

Türkiye has been a reliable transit route for oil and gas, he added.

The country halted flows on Iraq's northern oil export route following an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The ruling required Ankara to pay damages to Baghdad for unauthorized exports made between 2014 and 2018.

Türkiye later initiated maintenance work on its section of the oil link in the wake of a major February earthquake.

Baghdad and Ankara reached a consensus to await the completion of the necessary maintenance work before restarting flows through the pipeline while still engaging in a legal battle on arbitration awards.

Bayraktar confirmed that the maintenance work has been successfully completed on the pipeline, which contributes around 0.5 percent of the world's crude supply.