Turkey and Iraq Sign One-Year Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline Agreement

Turkey and Iraq have signed a one-year agreement to maintain crude oil flow through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline, providing Iraq with a critical export route to the Mediterranean following severe disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Signed by Turkish state firm BOTAS and Iraqi state oil companies SOMO and NOC, the agreement covers a daily capacity of 750,000 barrels and serves as an interim arrangement while both nations negotiate a comprehensive, long-term framework for broader bilateral cooperation.

// Background

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline has a total capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day but currently transports around 170,000 barrels per day, mostly from Iraq's Kurdistan region. Following military strikes by the US and Israel on Iran in late February 2026 and Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Iraqi monthly oil revenues plummeted from around $6bn to under $2bn due to Gulf transit disruptions and drone attacks on northern oil fields.

// Key Developments

• Turkey's BOTAS and Iraq's SOMO and NOC signed a one-year transit agreement covering a daily capacity of 750,000 barrels through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline.
• The deal follows the expiration of a decades-old bilateral agreement and recent high-level talks in Ankara between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.
• The agreement provides Iraq a vital Mediterranean export alternative after US-Israel strikes on Iran in late February led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and an 80 percent drop in Iraqi oil exports.
• Both countries are actively working toward a broader long-term framework agreement covering oil, electricity, water resources, and southern Iraqi crude expansion.