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Historic Kirkuk stake
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met in Ankara on Tuesday and agreed to deepen energy cooperation after the Iraq-Türkiye crude oil pipeline agreement expired, with Erdoğan saying Türkiye aimed to sign a comprehensive energy cooperation agreement as soon as possible.
“Erdogan said Turkey could get up to 1 million barrels of oil day”
Erdoğan said Türkiye’s state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) would acquire a 15% stake in BP Energy Company of Kirkuk Limited under a separate share-transfer agreement, and that the deal would allow TPAO to work with BPECKL partners to bring the approximately 3 billion barrel reserve potential into production.
Al Jazeera reported Erdogan said the arrangement could mean Türkiye receives up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from Iraq, and Erdoğan told the joint news conference, “Yes, that’s correct. Once we transfer 1 million barrels of oil from our neighbour Iraq, it will meet our needs”.
The Daily Sabah account said the consortium would develop several of Iraq’s largest oil fields in Kirkuk, including the Baba and Avanah domes and the Bai Hassan, Jambur and Khabbaz fields, which currently produce around 300,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
Security and Development Road
Beyond energy, the talks in Ankara covered security, trade, transport and water management, with Erdoğan and al-Zaidi also discussing the strategic Development Road project, according to multiple accounts of the joint press conference.
Al Jazeera quoted Mehmet Celik, editorial coordinator for Daily Sabah, saying, “The significance of this deal is beyond mere energy ties,” and Celik linked the alliance to security and the development road project.
Hürriyet Daily News said Erdoğan told reporters on July 28 that the Türkiye-Iraq Crude Oil Pipeline Agreement had expired as of yesterday and that the goal was to sign a comprehensive energy cooperation agreement that would benefit both sides as soon as possible.
The TRT World report said the two countries signed five agreements aimed at deepening cooperation in transportation, education, industrial property, youth and sports, and infrastructure development, including a memorandum on railway and road transportation via the Ovaköy-Fishkhabur border crossing.
Regional stakes and next steps
The agreements and proposed oil supply were framed alongside Ankara’s and Baghdad’s security priorities, with Erdoğan saying during the news conference that Türkiye views Iraq’s security and stability as inseparable from its own and stressing a “terror-free” vision.
““We are in close dialogue with our Iraqi brothers to ensure that our process of a terror‑free Turkiye”
Erdogan said, “We are in close dialogue with our Iraqi brothers to ensure that our process of a terror‑free Turkiye and our vision of a terror‑free region become a reality,” while Al Jazeera described the broader context of Turkish forces in northern Iraq and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a central security issue.
In parallel, the Development Road project was described as a land route connecting the Gulf region to European markets via Iraq and Türkiye, and the Al-Sharq for News account said the project aims to connect the Gulf region to global markets through a transmission network passing through Iraq and Turkey.
The Al-Sharq for News report also said the two sides agreed to continue coordinating on the Palestinian issue and to support Syria’s unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, while Erdoğan said the region should be connected to “development, prosperity, peace, and stability,” not wars, terrorism, and conflicts.
