BAGHDAD

- Iraq is one of the rich countries in the world, as its proven oil reserves amount to 153 billion barrels, while government forecasts indicate the possibility of reaching 500 billion barrels in the coming years with new explorations.

The volume of Iraq's oil production is currently more than 4 million barrels per day, according to the parameters of "OPEC Plus" (OPEC +), and its export capacity is more than 3 million barrels per day.

Iraq is now looking for new export outlets for black gold by extending oil pipelines from its south to its west and then to the Jordanian port of Aqaba, with a length of 1,700 km.

Jihad denied assigning any foreign company to implement the Basra-Aqaba pipeline project (Al Jazeera Net)

Basra Aqaba tube

In turn, the spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Assem Jihad, said that the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved on April 5 the entire project’s approval of the financing method that depends on the conclusion of engineering, construction and procurement contracts for the project, from Basra to Aqaba, at an estimated cost of not more than 12.5 trillion dinars ( $8.5 billion) for all project details.

Jihad added to Al-Jazeera Net that "the project was scheduled to implement a section of the city of Haditha, west of Anbar Governorate, to the Jordanian port of Aqaba, in the manner of investment, construction and operation by the investing company, then transferring ownership of the project to the state."

He added that what was approved by the Council of Ministers is a strategy and a roadmap for the implementation of the project.

Jihad denied referring the project or signing a contract with any party to implement it because its study takes some time, and it will be transferred to the next government to decide on it.

The project aims to enhance the movement of crude oil through pipelines and its flow in Rafd and supply the northern export system and the central and northern refineries with crude oil, as well as meeting the needs of electric power plants.

As for the total energy, Jihad revealed that the capacity of the export pipeline section extending from Basra to Haditha amounts to two million barrels per day, while the capacity of the section extending from Haditha to Aqaba reaches one million barrels per day.

Al-Moussawi warned that the oil pipeline between Basra and Aqaba aims to export oil to Israel (Al-Jazeera Net)

Gateway to normalization

For her part, Zainab Al-Moussawi, a member of the Al-Fateh Alliance, warned that the pipeline between Basra and Aqaba aims at normalization with Israel through the gateway to oil exported at nominal prices.

Al-Moussawi told Al-Jazeera Net that the government of Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi worked to starve the Iraqi people in order to enrich other countries, and the last of that was extending the pipeline from the oil-rich and poorly populated Basra Governorate to Jordan until it subsequently reached Israel.

She pointed out that the current government that wants to proceed with the pipeline is a caretaker government, and it has no right according to the law to conclude new agreements or contracts, and its work is limited to the conduct of daily business only.

Al-Marsoumi sees no point in reviving the oil export pipeline project through Syria (Al-Jazeera)

Iraqi-Syrian calligraphy

On the other hand, the academic at the University of Basra, Dr. Nabil Al-Marsoumi, mentioned several reasons for the lack of economic feasibility of reviving the northern Iraqi-Syrian oil export pipeline project.

Al-Marsoumi told Al-Jazeera Net that the length of the line is 800 km with a diameter of 32 inches, and connects the Kirkuk oil field in northern Iraq with the Syrian port of Banias and Tripoli in Lebanon, while its design capacity is 700 thousand barrels per day, while the export capacity of the Kirkuk field is 100 thousand barrels per day.

Al-Marsoumi added that the current situation of the line built since 1952 is largely destroyed as a result of the war in Iraq and Syria, and the cost of rebuilding it is $8 billion.

An inch considered that the advantages of the Iraq pipeline strategy with Syria outweigh what is characterized by the Basra pipeline with Aqaba (Al Jazeera Net)

Strategic Advantages

In turn, the General Coordinator of the Iraqi Economists Network, Dr. Bariq Shuber, disagrees with Al-Marsawy's opinion, as he stresses the importance of activating the oil pipeline to Syria, because it contains very great strategic advantages that outweigh the advantages of the pipeline to Jordan.

An inch talks about these advantages to Al-Jazeera Net that the Iraqi-Syrian line will not be limited to the export of Kirkuk oil, but can transfer the oil of Basra and the southern provinces because it passes through the city of Haditha.

The second advantage - according to an inch - is that the Turkish Haditha Ceyhan line in the north and the Syrian Haditha Baniyas line in the east directly enter the Mediterranean without passing through the Suez Canal, so transportation costs will be lower and faster towards Europe and the Americas, unlike the Haditha Aqaba line.

He pointed out that Syria represents the strategic economic depth of Iraq, and it is not a coincidence that the destruction of the Syrian economy with the effective contribution of some countries and Israel, to prevent the rise of the Iraqi economy.

Rebwar considered that the Turkish port of Ceyhan is important and strategic for the economies of Kurdistan and Iraq (Al-Jazeera Net)

Kurdish tube

The media circulated news about the pressure of the Russian Embassy in Baghdad to proceed with the Iraqi oil pipeline project to the Syrian port of Banias, in a move to abort the Kurdistan export line towards the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

The head of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Rebwar Babke Yee, told Al Jazeera Net that "it is not in the interest of Erbil and Baghdad to succumb to an external dictation to dispense with the oil export port from the region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, as it is important and strategic for the economies of Kurdistan and Iraq, as it is the largest crude oil export line in the country." Since its operation in 1976.

Babke Yi described the news as false and untrue, and they did not receive official or semi-official information about it.

The port of Aqaba is likely to be a port for Iraqi (European) oil exports.

export ports

Despite the controversy over that, Iraq remains in need of a multiplicity of its oil export outlets from all directions in order to be able to provide greater cash liquidity and sustain a continuous activity of the rentier economy.

In light of this, the oil expert, Dr. Ihsan Al-Attar, said that Iraq has only a limited sea port on the Arabian Gulf, and seeks to increase its oil export outlets from Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, in addition to the sea port from the Faw port side.

Al-Attar added, during his statement to Al-Jazeera Net, that the costs of completing the largest oil pipeline cost no more than the financial returns for the export of oil for a period of one month, and contribute to the perpetuation of the flow of Iraqi oil to global markets under bad conditions.

He said, "The process of implementing the pipeline with pumping stations is the easiest oil project ever, and there is no need to go towards investment and fall into the trap of companies that are managed according to their interests."