Shafaq News..Iraq pushes new oil routes beyond Hormuz

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Expanding the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline
offers Iraq the fastest route to diversify its oil exports, alongside planned
links toward Syria and western Iraq and temporary use of tanker trucks, oil
officials and experts told Shafaq News, as OPEC’s second-largest producer steps
up efforts to develop alternative outlets and reduce its dependence on the
Strait of Hormuz.

According to an Oil Ministry source,
the ministry is preparing an integrated plan that includes upgrading existing
pipelines and studying new routes, with road transport considered an interim
option to keep crude moving until strategic projects are completed.

The source identified Kirkuk-Ceyhan,
which links northern Iraq to Turkiye’s Mediterranean coast, as the quickest
option from a technical standpoint because existing infrastructure could be
upgraded to accommodate larger volumes.

Oil expert Ali Khalil, speaking to
Shafaq News, described diversifying Iraq’s oil export outlets as “an economic
and security necessity rather than a technical option or a long-term project
that could be postponed.” He stressed that Kirkuk-Ceyhan alone would not be
sufficient, calling for parallel progress on a connection to Syria’s
Mediterranean port of Baniyas and the Basra-Haditha project, allowing Iraq
eventually to distribute shipments among different outlets according to
security conditions and market requirements.

He called tanker trucks a useful
transitional option for moving crude from oil fields to collection centers or
border crossings, but ruled them out as a permanent substitute for pipelines
because of their higher costs and limited capacity.

Developing the projects would
require substantial investment and technical expertise from specialized
international companies. Khalil added that foreign firms could also participate
in financing, management, and technology transfer through long-term partnerships
while allowing Iraq to “maintain sovereignty over its oil resources.”

Earlier this week, Prime Minister
Ali Al-Zaidi ordered oil companies to operate around the clock to sustain
production and boost exports as restrictions in Hormuz continued to constrain
Iraqi shipments, demanding tangible results within one week. He also urged
faster pipeline upgrades, additional export routes, and contracts with
international companies to market Iraqi crude, calling on officials to use the
current crisis to accelerate oil infrastructure projects.

Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair
Al-Abadi has also outlined plans for a strategic pipeline running from Basra to
Fishkhabur near the Turkish border, with a branch extending to Baniyas on
Syria’s Mediterranean coast, as part of efforts to provide additional outlets
for Iraqi crude.

Jordan is also under consideration
as a potential outlet, parliamentary Oil Committee member Zainab Al-Khazraji
previously told Shafaq News.

Al-Abadi recently put Iraq’s crude
exports at about 49 million barrels in July, with daily shipments averaging
around two million barrels since the beginning of August, the highest level
since the regional crisis began. The Oil Ministry, through the State
Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), Basra Oil Company, and other state
companies, is also pursuing exceptional contracts to increase shipments.

Iraq derives about 90% of federal
revenue from crude exports, leaving its finances highly exposed to disruptions
in the strategic waterway, which normally carries roughly one-fifth of global
oil supplies. Finance Ministry budget-execution data showed oil accounted for
about 79% of state revenue through the end of June, while non-oil income
approached 21%, compared with roughly 12% previously reported for overall
government income.

Read more: Iraq’s oil bottleneck: Abundance trapped by dependency

Beyond expanding export routes,
Prime Minister’s financial and economic adviser Mudher Saleh outlined to Shafaq
News a broader strategy for generating greater returns from Iraqi crude through
refining, petroleum products, and petrochemical industries.

Saleh estimated that processing one
barrel of crude could generate, on average, economic value equivalent to seven
barrels exported in raw form, while highlighting a global shift from
geopolitics toward geoeconomics, with greater emphasis on developing oil
industries near ports and major consumer markets and establishing strategic
storage facilities for crude and petroleum products at international hubs.

“The future of energy,” he argued,
“is increasingly determined not only by reserves and production, but also by
countries’ ability to transform natural resources into integrated industrial,
logistical, and technological systems.”

Read more: No exit but Hormuz: Iraq’s economic vulnerability
exposed