Iraq and Syria resume talks to restart historic oil pipeline

• Discussions about the $8bn project
• Rehabilitation of 850km pipeline
• Top-level Iraqi delegation visits Syria

Baghdad and Damascus have resumed discussions about an $8 billion project to restart a defunct pipeline that previously carried crude oil from Iraq to a Syrian port on the Mediterranean Sea.

A high-level Iraqi oil delegation visited the Syrian capital last week for further talks on the project. It aims to rehabilitate the badly damaged 850km pipeline, which would supply crude to Syria and provide a new outlet for Iraq to market its oil.

The delegation included Ali Nizar, head of the State Oil Marketing Organisation (Somo), Ali Abdul Karim, director of the Oil Pipelines Company at the oil ministry and other officials, Iraq’s Shafaq news agency reported this week.

The two sides discussed the requirements for re-commissioning the pipeline through the ports of Baniyas and Tartus and strategic frameworks for its implementation, it said.

“The initial understanding aligns with the two sides’ objectives regarding the operation of the pipeline after assessing the damage, pending the final report from the consulting team. They are currently preparing a detailed study on the feasibility of reactivating the oil pipeline and the expected benefits for the two countries,” the report said.

Iraq and neighbouring Syria have asked a Turkish company to conduct a feasibility study to determine the project costs. They could be shared by both countries, the report said, without identifying that company.

Previous Iraqi media reports had estimated the cost of rehabilitating the pipeline at nearly $8 billion to boost its capacity to 700,000 barrels per day.

Baghdad and Damascus discussed the revival of the pipeline during a visit to Iraq in August by Syrian energy minister Mohammed Al-Bashir and they agreed to continue the talks.

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The pipeline, dating back to the early 1950s, linked Iraq’s oil-rich Northern Kirkuk province with the Syrian port of Baniyas. It was crippled during the 1956 Suez crisis before it was rehabilitated in the following years.

Between 1982 and 2000 Iraq shut the pipeline due to political rifts with Syria and it was disabled again after it sustained heavy damage during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Sitting atop the world’s fifth largest proven oil deposits, Iraq is Opec’s second largest crude producer with current output of around 4.2 million barrels per day. It exports 3.4 million barrels per day, mostly through the narrow Strait of Hormuz.