ISTANBUL - Turkey and Iraq are ​set to sign, ⁠within days, a one-year agreement to keep ‌open the crude oil pipeline between the two countries, Turkish ​Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Thursday.

Their decades-old pipeline agreement, ​which governs ​exports through the pipeline, is due to expire on July 27.

"We have brought the ⁠agreement that will cover the next 12 months to the final stage. We aim to sign it in the coming days," Bayraktar, who was ​in Baghdad ‌for an ⁠official visit, ⁠said in a statement, adding that oil flow from Iraq ​to Turkey's port of Ceyhan on ‌the eastern Mediterranean coast ⁠will continue.

The pipeline had remained offline for 2-1/2 years after an arbitration court ruled for Ankara to pay $1.5 billion in damages for unauthorised Iraqi exports Turkey received between 2014 and 2018.

Flows resumed late last year. In an earlier post on X, Bayraktar said he had a ‌fruitful meeting with Iraq Oil Minister Basim Mohammed, ⁠during which they discussed oil and ​gas cooperation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi also met with Bayraktar during his visit, according to his ​office.

(Reporting by ‌Ezgi Erkoyun, Can Sezer and ⁠Ece Toksabay; Editing by Susan ​Fenton, Daren Butler and Andrei Khalip)