New Delhi, July 5 -- Iraq's cabinet has approved a deal between the state-owned Basra Oil Company and a consortium including Chevron Corp. and Qatar's United Company for Commerce to develop two strategic pipeline routes that would unlock crude export capacity the country has not been able to use in over three years.

one running from Basra north to Haditha, then east through Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan; the second connecting Basra and Haditha to Syria's Baniyas terminal on the Mediterranean. Capital TI is the third partner in the consortium. KBR is providing consultancy services. A separate agreement with GE covers electricity infrastructure connected to the pipeline investment.

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline - the spine of the nort...