Iraq and Turkey sign one-year oil pipeline deal

Iraq and Turkey signed a one-year agreement on Saturday, August 1, 2026, to maintain and increase oil exports through a pipeline to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. The deal averts a potential disruption to global oil supplies and provides Baghdad with a more secure export route as it seeks to reduce reliance on volatile Gulf shipping lanes.

The agreement extends a decades-old bilateral arrangement that had expired on July 27. It was signed in Ankara by Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudair al-Abadi, representing their respective state energy companies. The pact stipulates a minimum export volume of 750,000 barrels of Iraqi crude per day through the pipeline, which runs from Kirkuk in northern Iraq to Ceyhan.

Currently, the pipeline carries between 170,000 and 200,000 barrels per day, according to data from the two countries. The new deal is designed to allow that flow to increase while the nations negotiate a broader, long-term framework agreement covering cooperation in oil, electricity, water resources, and joint infrastructure projects. Minister Bayraktar described the arrangement as buying time for these more...