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Iraqi Government plans to build a new oil pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan. The pipeline will be 350 km long and will transit 1 million barrels per day, according to Iraq’s Ministry of Oil.
The decision is linked to the fact that the oil pipeline previously used to transport oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan had been repeatedly attacked by ISIS since the terrorists captured Mosul in 2014. It is currently beyond repair, according to officials.
The new oil pipeline will assist the Iraqi Government in asserting control over the oil deposits in Kirkuk, after they extruded the forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government out of the region on October 16.
The pipeline will begin construction in Saladin Governorate. It will go through Kirkuk and Mosul, Faysh Khabur and then will reach Turkey.
Kirkuk province houses five oil deposits, two of which were under control of Erbil for almost three years and produced more than 300,000 barrels of oil per day up until October 16. Iraqi state North Oil Company controlled the other three, producing more than 150,000 barrels per day.
Iraq’s Minister of Oil Jabbar al-Luaibi said on October 17 that the government plans to increase the amount of oil produced from these deposits to one million per day thanks to foreign investments.
