US Backs Hormuz Bypass Pipeline

Baghdad90% of Iraq’s oil transits one strait.

Washington is advancing a pipeline routing Iraq’s crude to Syria’s coast, letting Baghdad’s exports skip Hormuz entirely as Iran’s closure cut output to 1.45 million barrels a day, producer-group data show.

Chevron and Qatar’s UCC are expected to sign the Basra-to-Syria route before al-Zaidi’s Washington visit ends.

Sources: Al Jazeera Online, Bloomberg Business, The National