New Delhi, July 12 -- BAGHDAD - Turkey's energy minister said last week the agreement would be "signed in the coming days." For Iraq, those days have a hard deadline.

The current deal underpinning northern Iraq's oil exports through the 970-kilometre Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline expires at the end of July. Talks between Baghdad and Ankara on a 12-month renewal have been advancing, with Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar confirming after meetings with Iraqi officials that finalization was imminent. No deal has been announced yet. The pipeline runs from Kirkuk's oil fields in northern Iraq to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, a route that has become Iraq's most critical remaining export corridor.

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