Iraq completes building of the oil pipelines through Syria

An oil source in Baghdad said that Iraq has completed the rehabilitation of the Iraqi - Syrian pipeline which passes through the Iraqi territories, adding that the process of completing this line continues on the Syrian side.

The source added, "Iraq will use this pipeline, when completed, at an exportation average of 300,000 per day."

Iraqi Oil Minister Amer Rashid has recently said that "joint work is continuous between technicians from the two sides to rehabilitate the part of the pipelines located inside the Syrian territories."

Worth mentioning that Iraq and Syria in July 1998 agreed to resume operation of the line, which has a capacity of 1.4 million barrels every day. It links the Karkouk oil fields in northern Iraq to the Syrian Banias port on the Mediterranean.

Washington had opposed the reopening of the line, saying that the oil-for-food agreement proclaimed by the UN does not permit that and that it will constitute "a violation to the embargo" imposed on Baghdad since 1990.