12-12-07

Iraq and Syria have agreed to accelerate efforts to re-activate an oil pipeline linking the Kirkuk fields to the Mediterranean after Damascus took steps to help the US-backed Iraqi government on the security front, Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari said. A contract to study the pipeline was awarded to a Russian company, and the issue was a focus of talks during a visit by Zebari to the Syrian capital, the foreign minister told.
"The Russian company is already performing surveys, but they're going slow. We discussed this and agreed that the work needs to speed up," Zebari said.

The pipeline, which last operated before the 2003 US invasion, would expand Iraq's limited oil export options.
Syria, faced with declining oil production of its own and isolation by the West, is eager to earn hard currency from transit fees.

Source: www.arabianbusiness.com