Map showing key oil infrastructure in northern Iraq and southern Turkey
Iraq confirms Turkey sent draft for new energy pact after pipeline deal termination
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Oil Ministry said Monday that Turkey has formally submitted a draft for a new, broader energy cooperation agreement, following Ankara’s decision to terminate a decades-old oil pipeline deal between the two countries.
In a statement carried by the state news agency, the ministry said, “Turkey’s Ministry of Energy sent a message to the Oil Ministry expressing its desire to renew the agreement, along with a draft of a new cooperation deal in the energy field, broader than the previous one.”
The proposed agreement covers oil, gas, petrochemicals and electricity.
The move follows Turkey’s formal termination of the Turkey-Iraq Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement, originally signed in 1973 and amended in 2010. The termination, effective July 27, 2026, was published under Presidential Decree No. 10113 in Turkey’s Official Gazette on July 21.
A senior Iraqi oil official said Ankara’s action was in line with the agreement’s terms. “The Iraq-Turkey pipeline agreement stated that either party may terminate it by sending a written request one year before the expiry date. Based on that, the Turkish government issued its decision today,” the official said.
The official added that Iraq had already been in talks with Turkey since July 2024 to renew the deal. “The Oil Ministry, in its keenness to maintain economic relations with neighboring Turkey, has been negotiating the extension of the agreement under discussion.”
The ministry confirmed it is reviewing the new Turkish draft and will enter formal negotiations to reach a version that serves both countries’ interests.
Oil exports through the pipeline, which transports crude from northern Iraq to Turkey’s Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean, have been suspended since March 2023. The halt followed an international arbitration ruling that found Turkey had violated the agreement by enabling exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan Region without Baghdad’s approval.
Although Turkey announced in late 2023 that the pipeline was operational, disagreements between the federal government, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and oil companies have prevented a resumption of flows.