Turkey has submitted a draft proposal to Iraq to renew and expand their longstanding energy agreement, aiming to cover cooperation in oil, gas, petrochemicals, and electricity, according to an Iraqi oil ministry official. This comes as Turkey announced that the decades-old Kirkuk-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline agreement and related protocols will terminate on July 27, 2026.
The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, with a capacity of 1.6 million barrels per day, has been out of operation since 2023 following an arbitration court ruling that Turkey must pay $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorized Iraqi oil exports between 2014 and 2018—a decision Turkey is appealing. Despite this, Turkey has expressed its intent to revive the pipeline, calling it a “highly active and strategic” asset for the region.
The Iraqi oil ministry is currently reviewing Turkey’s draft agreement and negotiating terms that would serve the interests of both countries. Efforts to resume oil flows have been complicated by disagreements between Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and independent producers.
Turkey has heavily invested in pipeline maintenance and views the project as integral to broader regional initiatives like the Development Road—a planned trade route linking Iraq’s Basrah port to Turkey and Europe via high-speed road and rail. Iraq allocated initial funding for this project in 2023.
A senior Turkish official described the proposed renewal as marking “a new and vibrant phase” benefiting both countries and the wider region, though details of the new agreement remain undisclosed.
