Iraq reopens Rabia border crossing to boost fuel oil exports via Syria

Iraq has reopened the Rabia border crossing with Syria after more than a decade to accelerate overland fuel oil exports and revive cross‑border trade amid disruption to Gulf shipping following the Iran war, Iraqi border officials says.

The crossing, located in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, will allow fuel oil shipments to be trucked through Syria while also reopening the route to commercial trade traffic that has been halted since the conflict that followed Syria’s civil war, officials say.

The head of Iraq’s Border Ports Commission, Omar al-Waeli, says reopening Rabia would ease pressure on fuel shipments to Syria by allowing more fuel oil trucks to cross, with most convoys currently backed up at the al‑Waleed crossing in western Iraq, the only operating border point.

Iraq is struggling to clear swelling fuel oil inventories after maritime exports through the Gulf were badly hit by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO has recently turned to overland routes through Syria, despite higher costs, as one of the few viable alternatives to keep exports flowing.

SOMO awarded contracts to supply about 650,000 metric tons of fuel oil per month from April to June to be trucked overland via Syria.

Convoys of tanker trucks loaded with Iraqi fuel oil are expected to begin crossing in the coming days, adding capacity to an operation that energy officials say has already stretched Iraq’s trucking and border infrastructure.

Iraq had previously exported the bulk of its fuel oil through the Khor al‑Zubair terminal on the Gulf.