In a significant economic step that could redraw the map of Iraqi oil exports, Member of Parliament Amer Abdul-Jabbar revealed serious diplomatic moves to reactivate the Iraqi-Saudi oil pipeline extending to the Red Sea, confirming positive signals and a welcoming stance from Riyadh regarding this proposal.
The Pipeline's History and Economic Significance
In press statements, Abdul-Jabbar explained the details of this strategic project, indicating that Iraq already possesses export-ready infrastructure through Saudi territory. The importance of this pipeline can be summarized in the following points:
Iraqi Ownership and Establishment: The pipeline was constructed in the 1980s with entirely Iraqi funds, costing approximately $2.6 billion.
Operational Readiness: The pipeline is technically ready and reaches export ports on the Red Sea. Oil was indeed loaded from it in the late 1980s before Saudi Arabia confiscated it in 1991 due to the repercussions of the Gulf War.
Saving Billions of Dollars: Reactivating this pipeline serves as an ideal economic alternative, as it saves the state treasury the exorbitant costs proposed for constructing the new export pipeline to the Jordanian port of Aqaba.
Saudi Welcome and Steps Toward Implementation
The MP pointed to his continuous efforts to advance this dossier since the government of former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. In a notable development, Abdul-Jabbar confirmed that he had repeatedly discussed the matter with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, who in turn recently presented the file to his Saudi counterpart.
A Surprising Statement: The Saudi Foreign Minister confirmed that his country has no objection to restarting the pipeline, welcoming the idea of forming joint technical committees of experts from both countries to convene and discuss the operational mechanisms and the retrieval of the pipeline.
Concluding his remarks, Abdul-Jabbar stressed that capitalizing on this available diplomatic opportunity and recovering the current pipeline represents the most economically viable and realistic step for Iraq at the present time.
