Türkiye’s Energy Minister, Alparslan Bayraktar, announced on Monday that operations on a crude oil pipeline from Iraq, which had been suspended for approximately six months, will resume this week.
“Within this week, we will start operating the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline after resuming operations. It will be able to supply half a million barrels, almost, to global oil markets,” Bayraktar said during the ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi.
Türkiye has been a reliable transit route for oil and gas, he added.
Türkiye halted flows on Iraq’s northern oil export route about six months ago after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages for unauthorized exports between 2014 and 2018.
Ankara later started maintenance work on the pipeline that contributes about 0.5% of global crude supply.
Baghdad and Ankara agreed to wait until a maintenance assessment on the pipeline, which goes through a seismic zone, was complete to restart flows while still engaging in a legal battle on arbitration awards.
Türkiye was weighing legal action against Iraq, which has an outstanding enforcement case against Türkiye, Bayraktar said last month.
Breaking News Turkey with Reuters