Stopgap deal aims to avert northern export shutdown

Iraq and Turkey have agreed to pursue a temporary protocol that would keep Iraq's northern oil exports flowing past the July 27 expiration of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) treaty.

As Iraq's only pipeline export route that is not exposed to the Strait of Hormuz, the ITP has served as an economic lifeline since early March, when the southern exports were taken mostly offline by the Iran war. Iraqi exports via Turkey's Ceyhan port have averaged just below 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) since the start of the war, generating more than $500 million per month.