Secret plan for Kurdish Oil Pipeline Through Iran

There are plenty of unanswered questions about the details of the plans – NIQASH approached Abdullah Akreyi, who coordinates the relationship between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran, but his office did not want to make a statement on the subject.

Some details have been shared through other channels. The planned pipeline would start in oil fields on the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaymaniyah province. This includes Karmayan and Koi Sanjaq and would mean that oil from anywhere nearby could end up being exported through the Iran-Iraqi Kurdistan pipeline.

There are a number of oil companies working in this area but transporting oil must be done by tanker. An estimated 150,000 barrels are thought to be heading out of Iraqi Kurdistan and through Iran by tanker daily, through three road crossings.

There are also two proposed routes for the pipeline. One would take the oil via the Hawraman area, east of Sulaymaniyah city. The other would utilize the Parvez Khan border crossing, southeast of the city.

As for further details, including the cost of the pipeline, its length, or who will pay for, or build it, these are not yet clear.

“Up until now we haven’t had any official information about an oil pipeline to Iran,”  Sherko Jawdat, the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee in the Iraqi Kurdish Parliament, told NIQASH. However Jawdat did agree there was “an understanding” between the Iraqi Kurdish region and Iran about the matter.

However Jawdat also pointed out that any such project would not be able to go ahead unless the Iraqi Kurdish parliament decided it was in the best interests of the Kurdish citizens. Personally he said he thought it was a good idea, saying that Iraqi Kurdistan should diversify both sources of funding and crossing points for its oil.