ANKARA: Iraq’s northern oil export route through Turkiye will soon be ready to resume operation after checks on pipeline maintenance and repairs to flood damage, the Turkish energy minister said.
A survey of the oil pipeline is complete and it will soon be “technically” ready for operation, Alparslan Bayraktar said.
Turkiye halted flows on Iraq’s northern oil export route on March 25 after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages for unauthorized exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018.
Turkiye then started maintenance work on the pipeline, which goes through a seismically active zone and which it says has been damaged by floods.
“As of today, the independent surveyor completed their survey and now they’re preparing their report,” Bayraktar said without mentioning a date for resumption of oil flows, in an embargoed press briefing held by the ministry on Thursday.
Iraq and Turkiye previously agreed to wait until maintenance works were complete before resuming the pipeline that contributes about 0.5 percent of global oil supply. Sources said oil flows are not expected to start before October, with KRG losing roughly $4 billion in lost exports.
Turkiye also calculates Iraq owes $950 million as a result of ICC arbitration, net of damages Turkiye has to pay Iraq.
Ankara will also file in the Paris court for a “set-aside case,” Bayraktar said. Iraq opened an enforcement case against Turkiye in a US federal court in April, to enforce a $1.5 billion arbitration award.
“As two neighboring countries, we need to find an amicable solution. But from the legality perspective, we need to take care of our interests. Most likely in the future we might face another court challenge. But the pipeline will be operational technically. It is more or less ready and we will start the operation soon,” Bayraktar said.
Ankara wants Baghdad to withdraw a second arbitration case covering the period from 2018 onward, and negotiate a reduced payment. Turkiye also wants Irbil and Baghdad to agree on a common position and negotiate the continuance of the pipeline agreement, which is set to expire in 2026.
Iraq-Turkiye oil pipeline ready to resume operations soon
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Iraq-Turkiye oil pipeline ready to resume operations soon
- Turkish minister said survey of oil pipeline is complete and it will soon be ready for operation
Israel army ‘temporarily suspends’ strike on south Lebanon
- The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it would “temporarily” suspend a strike planned for Saturday that was intended to target what it described as Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
A November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, which broke out after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
But Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately.
But later Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said “the strike was temporarily suspended,” adding that the military “continues to monitor the target.”
The suspension came after the Lebanese army “requested access again to the specified site... and to address the breach of the agreement,” he said on X.
Adraee added that the military would “not allow” Hezbollah to “redeploy or rearm.”
The year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism includes the United Nations, the United States and France.
A Lebanese security source said the army had previously tried to search the building that the Israeli military wanted to target but could not because of objections from residents.
But the source told AFP that the Lebanese army was able to enter and search the building after returning a second time, because residents “felt threatened,” adding that they were evacuated over fears of a strike.
