Turkey is promoting its own solution to the energy crisis caused by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz by proposing to extend the Iraq-Turkey oil pipeline to Basra.
The Turkish government is attempting to highlight an alternative energy corridor for Iraqi oil in order to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz. Turkey’s Energy Minister, Alparslan Bayraktar, proposed, in an interview today with the NTV television network, to extend the existing pipeline linking Turkey to Iraq to the southern port city of Basra.
“We also proposed the following: to extend this pipeline, which currently reaches as far as Kirkuk, to Basra,” the Turkish energy minister said.
Ankara believes the project can cover a significant part of Iraq’s exports and open up new markets.
Bayraktar noted that the pipeline could initially transport between 170,000 and 250,000 barrels per day, and stressed the broader potential of the project.
“Today, Iraq exports about three million barrels of crude oil per day. About 1.5 million barrels of that, almost 50 percent, could actually be transported through this pipeline, with the potential to reach new customers, particularly in the Mediterranean basin,” he said.
The new energy crisis
The Turkish proposal comes in response to the intense upheaval caused by the disruption of oil flow through Hormuz.
Iran has effectively cut off the passage through the Strait of Hormuz, severely affecting global energy trade, as the passage handled around 20 million barrels of oil and products per day.
The Turkish minister stressed that Ankara had warned for years about the need for alternative routes.
The existing pipeline
The proposal is based on existing infrastructure, which however has remained largely inactive in recent years.
The Iraq-Turkey pipeline, some 970 kilometers long, has connected Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan since 1976. Despite the operation of individual lines from the autonomous Kurdish region, the main pipeline has remained virtually inactive since 2014, following attacks by Islamic State.
Baghdad has said that restoration work is nearing completion and an agreement has already been reached with the Kurdistan Regional Government to resume exports through Turkey.
The potential extension to Basra is linked to the Development Road project, which envisages a transport and energy network from the Persian Gulf to Turkey and Europe. However, political disagreements within Iraq are delaying progress on the project, which is estimated to take years and significant investment to implement.
Energy cooperation with Saudi Arabia
Bayraktar revealed that talks are underway with Saudi Arabia to establish an electricity transmission line to Turkey and, through it, to Europe.
“We are working on an electricity transmission line from Saudi Arabia to Turkey and on the transmission of electricity to Europe via Turkey. So Turkey is now a country where this value chain can be built,” claimed Alparslan Bayraktar.
