Turkey opposes extending its oil pipeline agreement with Iraq under its current terms, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing a senior Turkish official, as the two countries negotiate a replacement before the accord expires on July 27.
Iraq has requested an extension of at least one year to allow more time for negotiations. Turkey announced in 2025 that it would end the decades-old agreement and has proposed a new framework with different conditions.
“There is no point in extending an agreement that has been subject to arbitration,” the Turkish official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The agreement governs Iraqi oil exports through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which carries crude from northern Iraq to Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
The route has gained importance for Baghdad since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz following US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February disrupted exports through Iraq’s main terminal in Basra.
Turkey’s proposal for a replacement agreement includes a mechanism intended to increase use of the pipeline and an option to extend the network into southern Iraq.
The pipeline can transport nearly 1.5 million barrels a day but has operated far below capacity because of security problems, political disputes and legal proceedings. Iraqi crude exports from Kirkuk through Turkey averaged 177,000 barrels a day in April, according to shipping data reviewed by Reuters.
The pipeline remained closed for about two-and-a-half years after an international arbitration tribunal ordered Turkey to pay Iraq $1.5 billion for allowing oil exports from Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region without Baghdad’s authorization between 2014 and 2018. Oil flows resumed in late 2025.
The dispute began after the Kurdistan Regional Government independently sold oil through Turkey despite objections from Iraq’s federal government, which says it has sole authority over the country’s crude exports.
A second arbitration case concerning exports from 2018 onward remains pending. Proceedings to enforce the first arbitration award are also continuing in a US court.