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Iraq is preparing to export crude oil by truck through Syria to the Mediterranean, seeking an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz as shipping risks threaten a key source of government revenue, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
Yousef Qiblawy, CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company, told Bloomberg that Baghdad requested help exporting crude alongside existing fuel oil shipments, with an agreement between the two governments nearing completion.
He said the first crude convoys could arrive by mid-October and that his company planned to provide storage tanks at Baniyas before the oil is loaded onto vessels for onward export.
The proposed route would expand an existing overland corridor carrying Iraqi fuel oil to Syria’s Mediterranean coast.
Qiblawy said about 1,000 trucks currently transport fuel oil daily, each carrying 220 barrels. He said he expected a similar or larger fleet for crude.
At those figures, 1,000 trucks would carry 220,000 barrels a day, underscoring both the route’s potential and the logistical demands of moving substantial oil volumes by road.
A Syrian official separately confirmed extensive Iraqi oil transit operations.
Ahmed Qubbaji, the petroleum company’s deputy chief executive for transportation and storage, told state news agency SANA on Sept. 27 that between 1,000 and 1,200 trucks crossed Syrian territory daily.
The corridor also carries energy supplies in the opposite direction.
Syria began transporting imported gasoline from Baniyas to Iraq in late September under a renewable three-month agreement, with plans to increase traffic to 200 trucks daily.
Beyond trucking, Iraq and Syria are also pursuing a larger export outlet through the rehabilitation of the Haditha-Baniyas pipeline, historically linked to the Kirkuk-Baniyas route.
SANA reported in July that Syria signed agreements with Iraq and an international consortium to advance the project, targeting a capacity of 2 million barrels per day.
That capacity remains a planned target rather than an operating export route.
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