BAGHDAD, Jan. 18 Iraqi and Syrian officials are in talks to reopen an oil pipeline sending Iraqi crude west to the Mediterranean Sea, though it could face Sunni attacks.
The Kuwait News Agency reports Iraqi Commerce Minister Abdulfalah AL-Soudani acknowledged he was talking to Syria about the pipeline, which has been inoperable for years.
The pipeline discussion was part of broader talks with Amer Hosni Lutfi, Syria's top economic official.
The pipeline would send Iraq oil into Syria, where it would end at Syrian ports on the Mediterranean Sea.
But the pipeline would cut through a Sunni-controlled area, which is rife with violence. Sunnis in the north have virtually ended exports to Turkey and cut down refining capacity with ongoing attacks.
The pipeline was destroyed during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Falah al-Ameri, an official in the Iraq Oil Ministry, predicted oil would begin pumping soon, though ministry predictions have often been unrealistic.
Oil from both northern and southern fields would meet south of Haditha and fill one pipeline into Syria.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
