Syria has become a conduit for 2.1 million tonnes of Iraqi fuel oil bound for Europe since April, with the cargo driven across the country to the Mediterranean coast to be shipped onwards.
The road deliveries mean the overland route is now used to transport the fourth-largest consignment of Iraqi fuel oil and petroleum exports in the Middle East, a senior oil official has said.
“Until today, a total of 2.123 million tonnes of Iraqi fuel oil have been transported to Europe,” Ahmed Qubbaji, deputy chief executive of the Syrian Petroleum Company for Transport and Supply, told The National in an interview this week.
The number of lorries involved daily has grown from 10 to 1,000, he said. Separate discussions were being held to double current volumes to carry Iraqi crude and fuel oil, he added.
The lorries unload at Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast in western Syria, from where the fuel oil is pumped on to tankers for export rather than processed at the port's refinery.
Syria is fast becoming a critical node in the energy link between Iraq and its northern export lifelines, as Baghdad hunts for alternative routes to markets following Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington has taken a direct role in that shift, brokering the effort as it looks to open up alternative routes for regional crude. Iraqi and Syrian officials signed an agreement to revive the defunct Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline in Washington this month, during a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi that yielded $200 billion worth of energy deals.
Iraq's cabinet last weekend approved the agreement, authorising Basra Oil Company to formalise the project with Syria's Energy Ministry. This forms part of Baghdad’s plans to boost exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan, a network that carries about 250,000 barrels per day, with plans afoot for a near four-fold increase in capacity.
Talks with Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation, Oil Ministry and North Oil Company were held in person and online before the agreement was signed in the US, Mr Qubbaji said.
“We have already completed all the technical studies and will provide the scope of work to the six international companies that have been contracted,” he said, naming Chevron, TotalEnergies and UCC Holding among them. “This is a strategic project that requires both technical and financial studies.”
The pipeline would carry two million bpd if the project goes ahead, with construction expected to take 30 months once a contract is signed.
Talks were slowed by the difficulty of holding meetings in person and Iraq's fragmented domestic politics, Mr Qubbaji said. “Now that the situation there has stabilised, we have been able to reach an agreement to rehabilitate the oil pipeline.”
Mr Qubbaji said the wider operation would restore a role lost during 13 years of civil war.
“Syria's geographical position qualifies it to serve as a strategic location, not necessarily as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz but as a vital transit corridor for energy supplies from the Gulf states and Iraq to international markets,” he said. “We are not seeking to take anyone else's role. Rather, we are seeking to restore Syria's natural role.”
