Iraq is speeding up plans for an oil pipeline to Mediterranean ports in Türkiye and Syria as the prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues to disrupt exports, according to its Oil Minister Bassim Khudair.
A feasibility study is underway for a pipeline linking the country's oil-producing regions of Basra in the south and Kirkuk in the north with the Mediterranean ports of Ceyhan in Türkiye and Baniyas in Syria, Khudair told state news agency INA at the weekend.
The route could later be extended to the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba.
Khudair said there was a "clear vision and strategy" in Baghdad on finding new export routes for Iraqi oil.
Iraq is heavily dependent on oil exports, which in normal times account for more than 90% of state revenues. More than 10 million Iraqis rely on monthly government payments, including civil servants, pensioners and welfare recipients.
