Iraq is considering rebuilding a now-defunct pipeline that carried crude oil to Syria as part of a post-war drive to boost its oil exports, press reports said on Tuesday.

The 825-km pipeline daring back to early 1950s linked Iraq’s Northern Kirkuk Governorate with the Syrian port of Baniyas on the Mediterranean.

It was crippled during the 1956 Suez crisis before it was rehabilitated in the following years.

Between 1982 and 2000 Iraq shut the pipeline due to political rifts with Syria and it remained shut after it sustained heavy damaged during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Rebuilding of the costly pipeline was discussed at a meeting between the state-owned North Oil Company in Kirkuk and several oil groups in Iraq on Monday, according to the Iraqi News Agency.

“The meeting … also covered required work, timetables and cost of rebuilding the pipeline which will be a new outlet for Iraq’s crude oil exports,” it said, quoting the Company’s Director General Barkan Abdullah.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

Subscribe to our Projects' PULSE newsletter that brings you trustworthy news, updates and insights on project activities, developments, and partnerships across sectors in the Middle East and Africa.