Shafaq News-Baghdad
Iraq and Syriaagreed Monday to rehabilitate the oil pipeline linking the two countries and toestablish two joint committees to deepen bilateral cooperation, according to ajoint statement issued after talks between Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Husseinand his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, in Damascus.
The two sidesexamined mechanisms for transporting and transiting energy supplies, centeredon the project to rehabilitate the oil transport pipeline running from Iraq toSyria. They also agreed to form a joint committee covering energy, agriculture,water, transport, and border crossings “to advance cooperation and mutualinterests.”
Last December,a source told Shafaq News that Iraq and Syria reached a preliminary agreementto revive the Kirkuk–Baniyas oil pipeline, adding that a delegation led byIraq’s deputy oil minister, including SOMO Director General Ali Nizar, OilPipelines Company Director General Ali Abdul Karim, and other senior officials,visited Damascus to discuss mechanisms for restarting the pipeline withofficials from Syria’s Ministry of Oil and Mineral Resources.
The pipeline,built in 1952, runs roughly 800 kilometers from the Kirkuk oil fields innorthern Iraq to the Syrian Mediterranean port of Baniyas, with a capacity of300,000 barrels per day. The line has been out of operation since 2003, when itwas damaged during the US-led invasion of Iraq.
: Kirkuk–Baniyas Pipeline: Iraq’s direct oil lifeline to the Mediterranean
