| Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum said his agency is examining an Iranian proposal to build an oil pipeline in southern Iraq along the Shatt-al-Arab waterway. "There is a proposed project to build a crude oil pipeline with Iran with a capacity of 250,000 barrels a day," Bahr al-Uloum told reporters, adding it was first proposed by Iran’s oil ministry when he visited Tehran in December. "We are in the process of conducting the feasibility studies of the pipeline, which will be released in the coming few months," Bahr al-Uloum said. Since appointed minister by the U.S.-backed Governing Council in September, Bahr al-Uloum has visited neighboring Iran twice and signed agreements with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Namdar Zanganeh to supply Iraq with oil products. Iran has helped supply Iraq with oil in a bid to alleviate winter shortages which led to an increase in black market sales and long lines at gas stations in Baghdad. |