Iraq, Syria serious on oil pipeline

DAMASCUS, Syria, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Iraq's visiting delegation to Damascus included the pipeline, bombed in the 2003 invasion, in its economic and security talks.

The delegation was led by Barham Saleh, the deputy prime minister, and included ministers of interior and trade, Iraq's Alsumaria TV reports.

The pipeline linking Kirkuk, Iraq, to Banias, Syria, is more than 50 years old and was used by Saddam Hussein as a way to evade U.N. sanctions restricting oil exports.

The line is in extreme disrepair, especially after the bombing, but leaders from both countries pledge to restart it, perhaps in only a couple years,

The Guardian online reports the Russian firm Stroytransgaz has been asked to present a proposal for the project.

Saleh also said a gas field near the Syrian border would also be developed soon. He said Syria would need to make good on promises of security.

Syria faces declining oil production and sees Iraq's oil as filling that gap.

Iraq's oil production has been relatively stagnant since 2003, though recent security measures in the north have bolstered production by about 300,000 barrels per day. Much of the inability to produce more oil is linked to its inability to export it, and another pipeline would further the production cause.