Norwegian oil and gas company DNO is considering exporting crude oil from Iraq’s Kurdistan region through Syria to secure prices closer to international benchmarks, Reuters reported October 29, citing the company’s CEO Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani.

The company is exploring opportunities to transport oil to the Mediterranean through Syria, a route that had previously been inaccessible because of the civil war, he added.

DNO currently sells crude from its Tawke and Peshkabir fields in the local market. The average selling price reached $38.50 per barrel in the third quarter, up from $31.20 a year earlier but still well below international benchmark prices, according to Reuters.

The company announced plans to intensify drilling to increase output from the two fields, which produced a combined 77,621 barrels per day in the third quarter.

Mossavar-Rahmani said significant volumes of crude from southern Iraq were already being transported by truck to pipeline networks in Turkey and to Syria for export, prompting DNO to explore alternative transportation routes.

Iraq has long sought to expand crude export routes beyond its southern terminals, while pipeline access to the Mediterranean could provide an alternative route to international markets. The proposed northern Iraq-Syria route would require substantial investment and infrastructure rehabilitation.