ANKARA, Turkey, March 17 (UPI) -- Turkish energy officials said during an energy conference in Ankara that a contract for an oil pipeline from the Kurdish region of Iraq would be renewed "soon."
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said transport links with neighboring countries "have important impacts on our energy policies," Turkish daily Today's Zaman quoted him as saying.
Turkey aims to position itself as a regional energy hub. The planned European gas pipeline Nabucco would cross its territory, while the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline would cross through Turkish territorial waters in the Black Sea.
Turkey also hosts a leg of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, one of the longest in the world.
Yildiz said part Ankara's energy policy included commitments to Iraq.
"The agreement about Kirkuk-Yumurtalik raw oil pipeline expired in March," he said. "We will sign a 15-20-year agreement with Iraq soon to renew the deal."
The Kirkuk-Yumurtalik oil pipeline was shut down briefly in December when militants attacked the link.
The oil pipeline carries oil from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.
