DOHA, August 12. /TASS/. Iraq is considering the possibility to resume oil exports through the Lebanese port of Tripoli and the Syrian port of Baniyas located on the Mediterranean coast, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said.

"Iraq has made significant progress in developing its gas and oil refining industries. It is seeking to increase export capacity of its southern ports, resume exports via the Turkish pipeline through the port of Ceyhan, as well as explore proposals to export [oil] through the Syrian port of Baniyas and the Lebanese port of Tripoli," he said at a meeting with Energy Minister in Syria’s interim government Mohammed al-Bashir, according to a statement by the Iraqi oil ministry. The parties agreed to establish a committee to assess the condition of the non-functioning Kirkuk-Baniyas oil pipeline and the possibility of its restoration to resume oil supplies, the ministry said.

The republic has achieved self-sufficiency in the production of diesel fuel and kerosene, and by the end of 2025 it plans to reach complete self-sufficiency in gasoline and stop importing it, the Iraqi oil minister said. He also informed the Syrian delegation about the project to build the Basra-Haditha oil pipeline with a capacity of 2.25 mln barrels per day, "which will ensure deliveries for the specified export routes, as well as supply Iraqi oil refineries that need additional volumes of raw materials due to the expansion of their capacities."

This May Lebanon's Finance Minister Yassine Jaber and Minister of Energy and Water Resources Joseph Saddi discussed with Iraq's leadership the resumption of the operation of the oil pipeline linking Kirkuk with the port of Tripoli through Syrian territory. It was noted at the meeting that the project to restore the pipeline, which has not been functioning for years, would depend on the security situation in Syria.

In late November 2024, Syria’s armed opposition forces started a large-scale offensive on government troops. On December 8, they entered Damascus. Bashar Assad stepped down as Syrian president and left the country. Head of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham group (outlawed in Russia) Ahmed al-Sharaa became the country’s actual leader. On January 29, the governing body of the new authorities, the Military Operations Command, announced that Ahmed al-Sharaa would assume the duties of the country’s president during the transitional period, which would last from four to five years.