Iraq eyes Syria route to ease Hormuz dependence
Iraq and Syria signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington last week to rehabilitate and reconstruct the Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline, a project aimed at restoring a key export route from Iraqi oil fields to Syria’s Mediterranean coast and to reduce the dependence to the Strait of Hormuz.
The agreement was signed during the U.S.-Iraq Business Council meeting by Bassem Abdul Karim Nasr, head of Basra Oil Company, on behalf of Iraq, and Youssef Qablawi, CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company, on behalf of Syria, on July 17.
The U.S. State Department welcomed the agreement, describing the project as a “priority infrastructure project of bilateral and regional strategic significance.”
The State Department said both countries recognize the strategic objective of restoring the pipeline, adding that the project would have an initial transport capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil per day.
