The Iraqi Oil Ministry set January 24th as the deadline for companies to submit letters of interest for a project to replace the old Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, the Reuters reports.

It will run 350 kilometers from the Kirkuk oilfields to Fish-Khabur on the border with Turkey, according to Middle East Monitor.

The proposed pipeline will have the capacity to carry more than one million barrels per day, the news agency reports.

The company that wins the project will pay for the pipeline’s cost under the “build-operate-transfer” system, a spokesman for the ministry, Asim Jihad, said. It will recover its investment through operating the pipeline, Jihad added, according to Middle East Monitor

Prior to this fall, Kirkuk crude was exported to Turkey via a pipeline controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).  In retaliation for a non-binding independence referendum held by the KRG, the central government in Iraq seized control of the Kirkuk oilfields from the KRG, causing production from them to plummet.

The central government has been seeking new export routes for Kirkuk’s crude.