Iraq and Jordan discussed restarting a dormant Basra–Aqaba oil pipeline to
bypass the Strait of Hormuz, sources said. The meeting included Jordan’s deputy
PM and foreign minister and Iraq’s prime minister, and was attended by U.S.
ambassador to Turkey and Syria/Iraq envoy Tom Barrett. The initiative follows
disruptions around the Hormuz corridor—including Iranian actions and a U.S.
naval blockade—and the collapse in recent weeks of a prior agreement to reopen
the strait. The planned pipeline is about 1,600 km long; it was approved by Iraq
in July 2019 but remains unfinished. An original 2013 design envisaged 150,000
bpd at a cost of $18bn and completion in 2017. A new proposal would build the
project in two phases: a ~700 km first leg with c.2.25 mln bpd capacity linking
Rumaila near Basra to western Iraq, and a second leg to Jordan’s port of Aqaba
with c.1.0 mln bpd capacity.
