The arbitration process concerning the Iraq-Türkiye Crude Oil Pipeline has not yet been completed, Türkiye’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Monday.
Speaking to reporters before a Cabinet meeting in Ankara, Bayraktar said enforcement proceedings related to the arbitration award covering the 2014-2018 period were continuing in Washington.
He reiterated that Türkiye would not renew the current pipeline agreement and said Ankara had proposed a one-year interim arrangement under which state pipeline operator BOTAS would transport Iraqi crude while the two sides negotiate a new long-term agreement.
Bayraktar said Iraq had requested pipeline capacity of 750,000 barrels per day (bpd), although current flows stand at around 180,000 to 200,000 bpd. He added that Türkiye was prepared to reserve the requested capacity to avoid disruptions after July 27.
He also said Türkiye had proposed extending the pipeline to Iraq’s southern oil hub of Basra, increasing its capacity to 2.5 million bpd, with the possibility of adding a parallel natural gas pipeline.
Bayraktar said the arbitration process would remain one of the issues under discussion with Iraq and noted that only a few outstanding issues remained before the proposed one-year BOTAS crude transportation agreement could be finalized.
“We are ready to proceed once those issues are resolved,” he said.
Reporting by Basak Erkalan Koprubasili and Ozcan Yildirim
