Iraq presses ahead with oil pipeline to Jordan

• Iraq seeks to bypass Hormuz
• Pipeline could carry 1m bpd
• Basra-Aqaba route ‘strategic project’

Iraq is accelerating plans for a long-delayed oil pipeline to Jordan that could carry up to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) to the Red Sea port of Aqaba, as Baghdad seeks alternative export routes after the Iran war disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq sent a parliament delegation to Amman this week to follow up on the project, which involves the construction of a pipeline from the southern oil hub of Basra to Haditha in the Western Al-Anbar, Iraq’s largest governorate.

From Haditha, Iraq intends to extend that pipeline to Syria, Jordan and Turkey and has already allocated funds for the first phase of the project.

The pipeline from Haditha to the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba could stretch up to 1,000km, mostly through Jordanian territory.

“The Basra-Aqaba pipeline plan is a strategic project for both Iraq and Jordan… the Iraqi oil ministry has taken significant practical steps to implement the first phase, the Basra-Haditha pipeline, with the second phase extending the pipeline from Haditha to the port of Aqaba,” the official news agency said, quoting MP Ali Shaddad.

The project will transport crude oil from southern Iraq to Aqaba at a capacity of 1 million bpd, directly contributing to securing alternative and new export outlets, the report said.

In April, then Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Al Sudani said the project would cost nearly $5 billion. He approved the allocation of $1.5 billion to the pipeline in 2026 and said it would be awarded to Chinese contractors under a landmark oil-for-projects agreement signed by the two countries in 2019.

Last week, Iraq’s new cabinet approved plans to increase the amount of crude oil it exports through pipelines through Turkey to about 770,000 bpd from 220,000 bpd within the next 75 days.

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Before the closure of Hormuz by Iran, Iraq exported nearly 3.4 million bpd by tanker through the strait, through which nearly 20 percent of the world’s seaborne oil supplies pass.

Officials have reported that oil output has dipped to below one third of the pre-war level, depressing the country’s average monthly revenues to below $2 billion in March-May from more than $7 billion.

“The pipeline to Aqaba could extend by 800-1,000km and is a good and safe export option for Iraq given the strong political ties between the two countries,” said Nabil Al-Marsoomi, an economics professor at Basra University in South Iraq.