Baghdad has reached agreement with Damascus to build two oil pipelines linking Iraq to Mediterranean sea ports via Syria for the export of crude, an oil ministry spokesman said on Monday.
The two pipelines will have a combined capacity of 2.75 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), but projected costs and a timeline will only be set once a study has been carried out.
"We cannot give any projected costs right now," said spokesman Assem Jihad.
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"When the two governments agree on all the details, companies will be invited to submit bids to say how much money it will cost."
The two pipelines will run alongside a gas pipeline that will provide gas for pumping stations, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement. Dabbagh added that the Iraqi cabinet had agreed to the deal.
Dabbagh said a bilateral technical team will conduct a study for the pipeline project, but Jihad could not provide details on when it would begin its work or submit a report.
Jihad told AFP that two existing pipelines linking Iraq and Syria, opened since in 1952 and 1962 respectively, were no longer suitable for the size of expected oil production.
"So because of this, we have decided to build a new system designed to accommodate the size of expected production," he said.
Iraq is seeking to ramp up its energy export infrastructure as its projects oil production to increase five-fold in the coming years along with a dramatic increase in gas extraction, following two oilfield auctions last year and an upcoming gas field sale next month.
It presently produces around 2.4 million bpd of oil, along with a negligible amount of gas, but its known oil reserves are the third highest in the world, behind only Saudi Arabia and Iran.
