Avoiding Hormuz, Iraq Diverts 750,000 Bpd Oil Exports via Turkey

Turkey and Iraq have opened a new chapter in energy cooperation after signing a one-year agreement to transport crude oil through the pipeline network connecting Iraqi fields to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The deal was signed in Ankara on Saturday, just days after a decades-old intergovernmental arrangement expired on 27 July, ensuring uninterrupted flows while both nations negotiate a broader, long-term energy framework. The agreement was signed by Turkey’s state-owned pipeline company BOTAŞ with Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) and the North Oil Company (NOC), in the presence of Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Iraqi Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair. Under the new terms, a capacity of 750,000 barrels per day on the Silopi–Ceyhan transmission system has been allocated to SOMO and NOC. However, this figure represents contracted capacity rather than a guaranteed daily export volume. Current actual flows through the pipeline stand at approximately 170,000 barrels per day, with realisation dependent on field production, infrastructure readiness, sales contracts, security conditions, and Baghdad’s relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government. The corridor is not a new physical pipeline but rather a revival of the Iraq–Turkey route that has operated for nearly half a century. The original agreement was signed in August 1973, with the 986-kilometre line becoming operational in 1976 and the first tanker loading at Ceyhan in May 1977. The network now consists of two lines with a combined capacity of roughly 1.5 million barrels per day, leaving significant spare capacity. For Baghdad, the pipeline holds strategic value beyond its technical specifications, as it remains Iraq’s only functioning export route to international markets outside the Gulf, offering a hedge against potential disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.