Iraqi authorities have backed plans for Iraq to build an oil pipeline...
Iraqi authorities have backed plans for Iraq to build an oil pipeline to Iran, to ease the pressure on outlets for the country's rising oil production, Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, Iraq's oil minister, said.
"We have agreed in principle to an offer from Iran to build a 10km pipeline across the Shatt al-Arab (waterway) to the Iranian port of Abadan," said Mr Bahr al-Uloum. "We faced no objection from the United States."
Coalition officials in Baghdad confirmed a memorandum of understanding had been agreed between the former foes. "It's a very good practical thing to do," said a senior coalition official.
The pipeline project was the oil ministry's latest move to overcome the bottleneck at its main Gulf port of Basra, and meet the target of exporting 2m barrels a day by the end of March, said the minister. The port is currently loading about 1.6m bpd.
Export and revenue potential has been held back by Iraq's narrow access to the Gulf and by guerrilla attacks that have stalled the reopening of the northern pipeline to Ceyhan in Turkey, which carried 800,000 bpd of Iraqi crude before the war.
