Iraq Expedites Plans to Build Network of Domestic & Cross-Border Pipelines

Iraq has stepped up plans to build a network of domestic and cross-border pipelines to export its crude following Iran’s closure of Strait of Hormuz.

The planned pipelines will stretch from the oil-rich Southern areas to Turkey in the north and to Jordan and Syria in the West, but they seem to be excluding Persian Gulf states.

In 2025, Iraq spoke about a possible project to construct a pipeline to Oman outside Hormuz and to revive an old pipeline that transits Saudi Arabia.

But Iraq, desperate to resume its interrupted oil exports, no longer mentions these Persian Gulf projects and is focusing the export strategy on pipelines via Turkey, Jordan and Syria.

“It seems that Iraq wants to invest in such large pipeline projects away from hazardous areas…Turkey, Jordan and Syria maintain good links with Iraq and can be classified as safe countries,” said Walid Khaddouri, an Iraq energy analyst.

“Iraq had talked about pipelines in Saudi Arabia and Oman but the recent conflict between Iran and the US has shown these countries could face security problems as they came under repeated Iranian attacks.”

In previous comments, Khaddouri said the proposed pipeline to Oman, whether overland or subsea, could stretch nearly 2,500 kilometres and that it must pass through at least one Persian Gulf country before reaching Oman.

Overland, it could cut across Kuwait and Saudi Arabia while a subsea pipeline will have to transit UAE territory to reach Omani ports outside Hormuz, the Persian Gulf’s only gateway.

“Iraq had thought of this project before…according to my information, this project is facing several obstacles,” said Khaddouri, who was information director at the Kuwaiti-based Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC).

“The main obstacle is that some Persian Gulf countries do not want to see this pipeline pass through their territory…the reason is that they want to be careful because they fear that their oil facilities could come under attack during conflict due to the presence of this pipeline in their territory.”

Last week, Iraq’s cabinet authorised the oil ministry to sign a head of agreement with a consortium of Qatari and US companies to study the construction of oil export pipelines to Turkey and Syria, as Baghdad looks for alternatives to Persian Gulf shipping routes.

The cabinet last month approved the project, which could also involve a pipeline from Haditha in the Western Al-Anbar province to the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba.

Jordan’s industry and energy ministers visited Baghdad last week and met Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi to discuss funding for the Aqaba pipeline, which will originate from the Southern oil hub of Basra.

“The meeting with Al-Zaidi covered a number of issues of common interest, most notably proceeding with the execution of the Basra-Aqaba pipeline project,” the prime minister’s information office said.

In a report in 2024, Iraq’s oil ministry said the pipeline to Aqaba could have a capacity of 1-2.5 million barrels per day and could cost nearly $9 billion.

OPEC member Iraq, which controls the world’s fifth largest recoverable oil deposits, said in 2019 that it had asked pre-qualified global companies to submit bids for the project, which is part of an agreement it signed with Jordan in 2013.

The project, involving one of the longest pipelines in the region, was obstructed by cash shortages and hostilities in pipeline route areas inside Iraq.

“I think Iraq needs a safe and secure outlet for its oil exports in the long term…I believe it is working in that direction,” said Manar Al Obaidi, an Iraqi economist.