A crude oil pipeline running from Iraq’s Kurdistan region to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey will resume operations this week, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said.
The pipeline was shut earlier this year after an arbitration court ordered Ankara to pay about $1.5 billion in damages to Iraq for transporting oil from Kurdistan without Baghdad’s approval.
“The pipeline is ready to operate and within this week, we will start operating the Iraqi-Turkey pipeline, which after resuming operations will be able to supply half a million barrels” of oil a day to global markets, Bayraktar said in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
Also read: Turkey Says Iraq Oil Pipeline ‘More or Less Ready’ After Audit
Turkey has said that it’s completed repairs to the link following an earthquake. Energy ministers from the two countries have been discussing the importance of resuming flows on the pipeline that carries oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
(Adds more on timeframe, location of Turkish minister’s speech)
Author: Nayla Razzouk, Selcan Hacaoglu and Leen Al-Rashdan
