Iraq and Türkiye have signed a one-year agreement to maintain operations of the Iraq-Türkiye crude oil pipeline, ensuring the continued flow of Iraqi crude through the country’s only functioning export pipeline while the two sides negotiate a broader long-term energy cooperation framework, Reuters reported.

The interim agreement, signed in Ankara between Türkiye’s state pipeline operator BOTAS and Iraq’s state-owned oil companies Iraq’s Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) and North Oil Company (NOC), extends a decades-old bilateral arrangement that ended earlier this week. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the deal provides for a daily transit capacity of 750,000 barrels, allowing uninterrupted crude exports during negotiations on a comprehensive accord.

The Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline (ITP), which links Iraq’s northern oil fields to the Mediterranean export terminal at Ceyhan, has a nameplate capacity of 1.5 million barrels per day (mmbbl/d). However, it is currently transporting about 170,000 bbl/d, according to Turkish data. Ankara has said it aims to maximize utilization of the infrastructure and is considering extending the network to connect with southern Iraqi oil fields under a future agreement.

The one-year extension is intended to provide both governments with additional time to finalize a wider energy partnership after negotiations continued beyond the expiry of the previous pipeline agreement. Iraqi and Turkish officials have described the interim arrangement as a bridge toward a more comprehensive framework covering long-term energy cooperation.

The agreement follows meetings in Ankara in late July 2026 between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, during which both countries reaffirmed their commitment to expanding bilateral energy cooperation despite not immediately reaching a replacement deal before the previous agreement expired.