Iraqi Ambassador to Damascus confirms that his country intends to speed up work on energy projects with Syria

Iraqi ambassador to Damascus Ala Gawwadi said that his country plans to speed up work on the projects of energy, cost billions of dollars with Syria.”

The energy projects included Banias –Kirkuk Pipeline to transport Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean and developing Akkas Iraqi gas field as well as exporting Iraqi production Arab pipelines network via Syria.

Iraqi ambassador told Reuters that “there is expected to be a real thing,” pointing out that “both President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki confirmed the seriousness of Iraq and the readiness to overcome obstacles to start of these strategic projects.”

 
The two projects will, if implemented to get Syria to many economic benefits, as a passage of energy, especially with the decline in oil production to the limits of 380 thousand barrels per day.

 
The U.S. forces bombed the Banias – Kirkuk pipeline during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, after the former Iraqi regime used to inject 100 to 200 thousand barrels of oil a day, where the absorptive capacity of the line 300 thousand barrels per day.

 
The ambassador pointed out that “It is natural to be a sensitive economic side,” he said, “We look forward to the relations between the two countries in the framework of a constructive strategy.”

 
Gawwadi indicated to “the existence of good faith in the leaderships of the two countries to establish relations up to the level of relations that should be,” explaining that “economic relations are related to political and social security.”

 
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari had confirmed in a recent statement to reporters that Syria and Iraq agreed to expedite the resumption of operation of the oil pipeline between the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and the Syrian coastal city of Banias, pointing out that the Russian company was awarded the contract to study the situation of a pipeline surveys in this regard.