THE GOVERNMENTS of Iraq and Syria have agreed to accelerate efforts to reactivate the oil pipeline linking the Kirkuk fields to the Mediterranean after Syria took steps to help the US-backed Iraqi government on the security front, Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari said in December. A contract to study the pipeline has been awarded to a Russian company, and the issue was a focus of talks during a visit by Mr Zebari to the Syrian capital, the foreign minister is reported to have said.
"The Russian company is already performing surveys, but they're going slow. We discussed this, and agreed that the work needs to speed up," Mr Zebari said in an interview. The pipeline, which last operated before the 2003 US invasion, would considerably expand Iraq's limited oil export options.
One of two main Iraqi export routes, the 40-in diameter, 940-km long, Kirkuk line was opened in 1977, and runs north through Syria to Turkey to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean; it has been closed since the start of the current conflict.
Basket is empty.
