Syria’s caretaker government is moving to restore the Kirkuk-Baniyas oil pipeline with Iraq, a strategic corridor that had the capacity to move up to 300,000 barrels per day to Syria’s Mediterranean coast before war and sanctions shut it down in the early 2000s. Syrian Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir will travel to Baghdad in the coming days to discuss rehabilitation plans, according to Iraqinews.com.
For Damascus, reconnecting to Iraq’s oil network could provide critical transit revenues, reduce reliance on costly maritime imports, and restore its position as a regional energy hub. For Baghdad, reopening the route would offer an alternative export outlet to Europe, bypassing chokepoints in the Strait of Hormuz and diversifying away from Turkey-dependent pipelines, as highlighted by Shafaq News.
The proposal comes as post-Assad Syria navigates a shifting geopolitical landscape. Regional powers, including Turkey, Iran, and Gulf states, are recalibrating their strategies, while Western capitals weigh how to engage without ceding influence to rivals. Analysts told the Yetkin Report that the Kirkuk-Baniyas revival could weaken Ankara’s leverage over Iraqi exports and reshape Mediterranean energy flows.
The revival of the Kirkuk-Baniyas could also have far-reaching consequences for Baghdad’s relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. For over two years, northern exports have been hampered by the shutdown of the Iraq-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan, a route that runs through territory controlled by the KRG.
A functioning Baniyas route would give Baghdad a northern export corridor that bypasses both KRG-controlled infrastructure and Turkish territory. Analysts note that this could diminish Erbil’s bargaining power in budget talks and shift Iraq’s export calculus toward Syrian cooperation. The change could also heighten tensions if Baghdad attempts to channel crude from disputed fields in Kirkuk and Nineveh through Syria without KRG consent.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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