Baghdad, March 16 (Petra) – Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani said on Monday that the country will begin pumping crude oil directly from the Kirkuk oil fields to Türkiye's port of Ceyhan, bypassing the Kurdistan Region.

He said in a statement that Iraq previously exported approximately 3.4 million barrels per day through its southern ports and via the Strait of Hormuz before exports came to a halt due to the strait's closure as a result of the ongoing war.

Current production is between 1.5 and 1.6 million barrels per day, he added.

Ghani said the Ministry of Oil has several alternatives for exporting oil following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, including using the Jordanian and Syrian pipelines via tankers, given insufficient pipeline capacity for these two routes.

He said efforts are underway to rehabilitate the pipeline linking the Kirkuk oil fields to the Iraqi-Turkish pipeline, confirming that pipeline inspection and completion of work will be finalized in a week. This will enable Iraq to pump crude oil through it without passing through the Kurdistan Region, added the minister.

//Petra//SS

16/03/2026 16:05:22