Iraq plans new oil pipeline to Turkey

Facility to replace an old and severely damaged section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline

FILE PHOTO: Flames emerge from flare stacks at the oil fields in Kirkuk, Iraq October 18, 2017. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani/File Photo
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Iraq plans to build a new pipeline that will ship oil from Kirkuk's oilfields to the Ceyhan port in Turkey, the oil ministry said on Sunday.

The new pipeline will replace an old and severely damaged section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. It will start from the nearby city of Baiji city and span until the Fish-Khabur border area with Turkey, the ministry said in a statement.

The territory in which the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline ran was taken by ISIL militants in 2014 and subsequently recaptured by US-backed Iraqi forces over the past two years.

Domestically, Iraq is looking to fix power outages across seven war-torn provinces following a US$400 million contract with the American utilities firm GE Power to build 14 electricity substations that will connect them with the grid.

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GE Power will develop substations that will connect to power plants across the Ninawa, Salah Al Din, Al-Anbar, Karbala, Baghdad, Qadisiyyah and Basra governorates, which are in immediate need of reliable power infrastructure. The firmsaid as yet it does not have a definite timeline for completion of the facilities.

As part of its agreement with the Iraqi electricity ministry, the US firm said it would help the ministry secure funding through various financial institutions, including export credit agencies commercial banks.