Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) \u2014 Iraq is pushing forward with a vital oil pipeline project with US energy company Chevron, TE, and Qatar\u2019s UCC, which would link Basra to Fishkhabur and branch west toward Syria\u2019s Mediterranean port of Baniyas, Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudair said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Khudair said at the start of the fourth Iraq Oil and Gas Projects and Licensing Rounds Exhibition that the project is critical to Baghdad\u2019s efforts to diversify export routes and provide Iraqi petroleum more flexibility in reaching global markets.<\/p>\n
He said that Iraq is working with a consortium of US corporations, including Chevron and TE, as well as its Qatari partner UCC, to build the Basra-Fishkhabur connection and its planned branch to Baniyas.<\/p>\n
The route would be especially important for Iraq since the majority of its petroleum exports now depart from southern Arabian Gulf terminals and go via the Strait of Hormuz. A link between Basra and the Mediterranean would give an alternate outlet during times of difficulty.<\/p>\n
The initiative comes as US President Donald Trump has publicly emphasized the construction of new oil pipelines in the Middle East. <\/p>\n
Speaking at the White House last week, Trump applauded the trucking of Iraqi oil toward Syria\u2019s Mediterranean coast and said that \u201cmany oil pipelines\u201d were being constructed in the area.<\/p>\n
Baghdad is also building its northern export route. Khudair said that a deal with Turkey would assist in revitalizing and developing Iraq\u2019s northern exit, complementing the projected routes to Baniyas and providing the nation with several export possibilities.<\/p>\n
The Minister said that Iraq\u2019s larger goal goes beyond pipelines to increase production and exports, enhance refining capacity, develop gas resources, and reduce flaring, all while attracting foreign investment and boosting Iraqi energy firms.<\/p>\n
According to Khudair, Iraq\u2019s oil exports increased to over 3 million barrels per day in September, up from roughly 200,000 bpd when the present administration took office.<\/p>\n
He also revealed that Japan\u2019s JGC has decided to return to Iraq after discussions with the ministry to begin work on the FCC project at the southern refineries, which is part of Baghdad\u2019s aim to enhance local refined petroleum product output.<\/p>\n
Khudair said that the government\u2019s ultimate goal is to achieve self-sufficiency in petroleum products, use more of its gas domestically, and eventually grow exports of higher-value refined goods.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Iraq has maintained its commitment to meeting its OPEC production targets, with output not anticipated to surpass 4.2 million barrels per day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) \u2014 Iraq is pushing forward with a vital oil pipeline project with US energy company Chevron,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[1711,5277,154,897,213,271,95,1176],"class_list":["post-283477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-syria","tag-baghdad","tag-basra","tag-energy","tag-gas","tag-oil","tag-qatar","tag-syria","tag-turkey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117235286161276369","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}