TEHRAN - Iraq is going to start sending 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from the northern Kirkuk fields to Iran this month, Kirkuk’s governor told Reuters at a conference for the reconstruction of Iraq being held in Kuwait on Monday.

In December 2017, Iran and Iraq agreed to swap up to 60,000 bpd of crude produced from Kirkuk for Iranian oil to be delivered to southern Iraq, with the crude trucked to Iran’s Kermanshah.

Based on the agreement, the delivered oil will have the same characteristics and in the same quantities as those it would receive from Kirkuk, Reuters quoted Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi as saying.

The two countries are also planning to build a pipeline to carry the oil from Kirkuk, so as to avoid trucking the crude, he said.

The transportation was to start in late January and oil officials declined to give reasons for the delay other than it was technical in nature. Iraqi forces launched a security operation along the planned oil transit route last week to clear the area from armed groups.

EF/MA