A US State Department official said on Tuesday that Washington fully supports joint efforts by the Iraqi and Syrian governments to rebuild and rehabilitate the crude oil pipeline linking the two countries, in a strategic move aimed at diversifying energy export ports and reducing international and regional dependence on oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, which is facing ongoing shipping disruptions.
The U.S. official told Reuters that Washington expects broad participation from major U.S. companies to speed up rehabilitation and restore operational capacity of the historic Kirkuk-Baniyas line, which has been out of operation for more than two decades after being severely damaged during military operations in 2003. The line stretches 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) and connects oil fields in Kirkuk in northern Iraq to the Syrian port of Baniyas on the Mediterranean coast.
Alternatives on the Horizon: Rehabilitation or New Line?
The current talks, led by the US Special Envoy for Syria and Iraq, Thomas Barrack, with officials from both countries are not limited to reviving the old pipeline, which dates back to 1952 with an operational capacity of 300,000 barrels per day, but also includes newer technological options:
The Iraqi Cabinet approved the signing of a preliminary agreement of principles and a memorandum to protect the confidentiality of information with a US-Qatari consortium of companies to prepare technical and economic feasibility studies for the construction of a new pipeline with modern specifications that reaches the port of Baniyas.
The Iraqi government is also offering the Basra-Haditha line as an alternative option that extends from the fields of Basra in the south to Haditha in the north, and then branches off towards Syrian, Turkish, or Jordanian territory. The Iraqi government has authorized the Basra Oil Company to contract with the American engineering company KBR to provide technical consultancy for the project.
Project timing and political backgrounds
The move is significant given the economic turmoil Iraq has faced following the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran on Feb. 28, which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and a 60 percent drop in Iraqi exports, with about 95 percent of Iraq's oil passing through the strait, which used to absorb 20 percent of the world's energy supply.
These developments coincided with the official talks held by US President Donald Trump with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi at the White House, where it was confirmed that huge oil and investment partnerships to open the Iraqi energy sector to American companies such as Chevron, which are conducting parallel talks to invest in the Nasiriyah and West Qurna-2 fields.
On the Syrian side, the project is welcomed by Syrian leaders as part of efforts to reintegrate Syria into the international community after the ouster of the former regime in December 2024.
U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to lift terrorism sanctions on the country, paving the way for major companies such as Chevron, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips to begin energy exploration and transmission negotiations. In this context, the Syrian Minister of Agriculture, Bassel Al-Suwaidan, stressed that Syria is ready to be an integrated destination to reduce the risks of shipping and diversify export options.
Security and technical challenges to implementation
Despite the promising prospects, reconstruction and pipeline launches face complex challenges on the ground: the pipeline is supposed to pass through Iraq's western Anbar province to eastern Syria, areas where remnants of ISIS cells are still active. Another political challenge is opposition from some armed factions close to Tehran in Iraq, which may see the project as a direct threat to Iran's economic interests and its impact on regional energy corridors.
These moves come in conjunction with growing European interest, as exemplified by the recent visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Damascus accompanied by TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanet, who in turn stressed that Syria's geographical location positions it as an obligatory and strategic crossing to transport Iraqi oil away from the complexities of the Strait of Hormuz.