Iraq plans new Kirkuk pipeline

VIENNA, November 30, 2017 – Iraq is set to launch a tender for a new crude export pipeline out of Kirkuk within days, international media reported late Wednesday.

“We have already issued a tender to build a new pipeline with a 40-inch diameter and two pumping stations,” Iraq’s Minister of Oil Jabar Al Luaibi told Reuters, adding that the new facility would have an export capacity of 300,000 bopd.

The move, designed to bypass the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs through Iraqi Kurdish territory, comes weeks after forces loyal to Baghdad took Kirkuk from the Kurdistan Regional Government, following a Kurdish referendum for independence in late September. In October, the Iraqi government floated the idea of repairing an old Kirkuk pipeline damaged by Islamic State violence.

Kirkuk currently produces about 80,000 bopd, Reuters added.

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