Following the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, calls are mounting to revive a defunct pipeline that once transported Iraqi crude oil to a Syrian port on the Mediterranean.

According to AGBI, several Iraqi experts have urged their government to consider rebuilding the facility as an export route for the OPEC member’s oil to Europe.

An adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani said negotiations between the two Arab neighbors are necessary to lay the groundwork for the pipeline’s reconstruction.

However, some analysts disagree, citing the uncertain situation in Syria and Iraq’s declining oil exports to Europe in favor of Asian markets.

In October 2023, Iraqi officials said rebuilding the 850-kilometer (approximately 530-mile) pipeline was discussed during two days of talks between the state-owned North Oil Company in Kirkuk and several local oil companies.

The official news agency later quoted government spokesman Bassim Al-Awadi as saying Baghdad was considering reviving the pipeline to expand export outlets.

Mudhar Saleh, a spokesperson for the Iraqi prime minister, said the Iraq-Syria pipeline is one of the vital projects that has significantly impacted the oil industry in Iraq and the entire Middle East.

“Iraq remains in need to revive plans to expand its oil export outlets through the Mediterranean for its European clients,” Saleh told the official Iraqi news agency last week. 

He added that the issue requires negotiations between Iraq and Syria since the pipeline’s part in Syria had already been nationalized by Damascus. 

The pipeline, built in the early 1950s, connected Iraq’s oil-rich northern Kirkuk governorate with the western Syrian port of Baniyas on the Mediterranean. 

Iraq shut the pipeline between 1982 and 2000 due to political disputes with Syria, and it was heavily damaged during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.