Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar met Iraqi Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair and said a road map to extend the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline to Basra had been clarified.
Minister Bayraktar said joint working groups would be set up for a new long-term agreement. A crude oil transport contract had been signed in August between BOTAŞ and SOMO and NOC. He said he saw increasing the line's capacity as important in creating an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.