JEDDAH: Iraq is proposing a new oil pipeline to Syria’s Baniyas port while seeking to boost flows to Turkiye’s Ceyhan terminal to 650,000 barrels per day, as part of a broader push to rehabilitate infrastructure and strengthen supply flexibility.
Bassem Mohammed Khudair, the country’s deputy minister of oil, told the Iraqi News Agency that the existing line is inoperable and a study is underway to build a new facility, while modernizing the Basra line and developing branches toward Jordan and Baniyas.
He noted that, before the current conflict, export capacity stood at around 200,000 bpd, with 50,000 barrels allocated for domestic use, adding that the target is to raise regional output to 400,000 bpd, which, combined with 250,000 barrels from the North Oil Co., could bring total exports to about 650,000 bpd, depending on production growth.
Iraqi oil production has slumped amid the ongoing regional conflict, with output from southern oilfields falling roughly 80 percent to around 800,000 bpd. Storage tanks are reaching critical levels, and exports via the Strait of Hormuz remain blocked, according to three Iraqi energy officials who spoke to Reuters.
Earlier this month, production from the same fields had already declined by about 70 percent to 1.3 million bpd.
