Iraqi oil minister heads to Turkey to sign Ceyhan pipeline agreement

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s oil minister, Bassim Mohammed Khudair al-Abadi, left for Turkey on Saturday leading a senior delegation to sign an agreement on transporting and loading Iraqi crude through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan, the Oil Ministry said, five days after the decades-old treaty governing the route expired.

The visit follows weeks of talks on replacing the 1973 agreement, which lapsed on July 27. Crude has continued moving through the line since. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi held talks in Ankara last week on security, trade, energy, transport, water and infrastructure, at which five agreements were signed — none of them the expected pipeline extension.

The pipeline carries crude from northern Iraq, including Kirkuk and the Kurdistan Region, to Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Turkey closed it on March 25, 2023, after the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris ruled that Ankara had breached the 1973 transit agreement by allowing the KRG to export independently. It reopened in 2025 following a Sept. 25 agreement between Baghdad and the KRG, which both sides called a breakthrough after years of disputes over control of crude.

The northern route has taken on more weight since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz cut shipments from Iraq’s southern terminals. Iraq exported 32.1 million barrels of crude and condensates in May and June for about $2.34 billion, roughly $1.17 billion a month, according to Oil Ministry figures. Oil typically accounts for more than 90% of federal revenue. The government spokesperson said Thursday that Iraq is in a financial crisis and public salaries will be delayed.

Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding with Syria last month to develop a crude export pipeline to Baniyas on the Mediterranean, which officials say is intended to diversify export routes. The Oil Ministry said a consortium of U.S. companies Chevron and TI Capital with Qatar’s UCC would carry it out.

The ministry did not say what the new agreement covers, how long it runs or what tariff Iraq will pay.