Iraq’s new oil minister, Abdul Kareem Luaibi, said that The Syria pipeline project was expected to start at the beginning of the new year after agreement is reached with Syria.

Luaibi, who was sworn into office with Iraq’s new government on Tuesday, said he hoped to start a project soon to build crude oil and gas export pipelines to Syria.

The Syria pipeline project was expected to start at the beginning of the new year after agreement is reached with Syria, he said.

He as well as put building infrastructure at the top of his priority list and said on Tuesday he expected the expansion of Basra’s crude export facilities to be finished by end-2011.

A deputy oil minister since March 2009, Luaibi was elevated to oil minister when Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki persuaded his boss, Hussain Al Shahristani, to take the position of deputy prime minister for energy in the new government.

Analysts believe Al Shahristani, who is also acting electricity minister, will have ultimate control over energy policy, including the vast oilfields Iraq is counting on to rebuild after years of war.

Luaibi told Reuters in an interview after his swearing in that his top concern would be to build up infrastructure, which was neglected for decades under Saddam Hussein’s government.

“The priority is to build oil infrastructure. We have major projects like expanding the Basra port to increase its export capacity to 4.5 million barrels per day, and it’s expected we will finish the rehabilitation work before the end of next year,” he said.

Iraq is also building new crude storage facilities at Nahr Bin Umar, Nassiriya, Tuba and Fao, which Luaibi said would have “utmost priority because they represent essential guarantees to cope with the expected big increase of production”.

Iraq has signed deals with international oil companies to refurbish its oilfields in the hope of ramping up production capacity to 12 million barrels per day (bpd) from about 2.5 million bpd now.

Such an increase would vault Iraq into the top echelon of global producers, although analysts doubt the goal is realistic.

Luaibi said he expected to sign an initial deal with South Korea’s KOGAS {036460.KS} and Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGas to develop the Akkas gas field in western Anbar province within two weeks.

The companies won the deal for Akkas, near the border with Syria, on October 20 in Iraq’s third energy auction since the 2003 US-led invasion.

One of Luaibi’s biggest challenges may be the oil ministry’s dealings with Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which last year halted oil exports over a disagreement with the central government in Baghdad.

Iraq’s government considers illegal contracts the Kurdistan Regional Government signed with foreign companies to develop northern oilfields.

“We held previous rounds of talks … and a closed meeting shall be held to settle the issues,” Luaibi said without further comment.