Iraq and Turkey agree to draft protocol to restart oil pipeline

BAGHDAD — Iraq and Turkey have agreed to draft a new protocol to restart the pipeline carrying Iraqi oil to Turkey, including exports from the Kurdistan Region, after high-level talks in Ankara, with a broader energy agreement to follow within a year, Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said.

A senior Iraqi delegation led by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Mohammed Hussein Bahr al-Uloom and Oil Ministry Undersecretary Nasser al-Hindawi visited Ankara on Wednesday and Thursday for technical talks on the pipeline’s future and on cooperation in oil exports and energy, the ministry said. The delegation included directors general from the Oil Ministry and the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Natural Resources, and met Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar to discuss deepening energy cooperation and keeping oil exports flowing in both countries’ interests.

The two sides agreed to continue technical and legal coordination, the ministry said, and expect to sign an implementation protocol in the coming period to ensure Iraqi oil exports continue, including from the Kurdistan Region. The protocol, it said, would be a transitional step toward a new agreement to be concluded within a year of the current accord’s expiry.

The move follows months of negotiation over the pipeline’s future. The legal framework dates to a 1973 accord, extended in 2010 for 15 years and due to expire in July 2026. Exports through the pipeline have been suspended since March 2023, after an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration ruling found Turkey had breached the agreement by allowing Kurdistan Region exports without Baghdad’s approval. Since July 2024 the two governments have been negotiating a replacement, and Turkey has submitted a draft covering oil, gas, petrochemicals and electricity.