Bad weather stops Iraqi oil exports

BASRA - Agence France-Presse

Workers of South Oil Company adjust a valve at the Rumaila oil field in Basra province. The Iraqi goverment is suffering from old technoolgy facilities. Reuters photo

Oil exports through Iraq’s southern oil terminals, through which the vast majority of the country’s crude exports flow, have been suspended due to bad weather, an official said yesterday.

“Oil exports were stopped because of bad weather,” an official in Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company (SOC) told Agence France Presse, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “They will be resumed when the weather improves.” The official did not, however, say when exports were expected to resume.

SOC chief Dhia Jaafar told Dow Jones Newswires yesterday that Iraq had been exporting an average of 2.34 million barrels per day (bpd) from its southern terminals and, were it not for the bad weather, exports from the south this month would have set a record.

Between 85 and 90 percent of Iraq’s oil exports flow through its southern terminals.

Old facilities

Iraq has proven reserves of 143.1 billion barrels of oil and 3.2 trillion cubic metres (111.9 trillion cubic feet) of gas, both of which are among the largest in the world.

Crude exports account for the lion’s share of government income, and Baghdad is looking to dramatically ramp up both production and sales in the coming years, bringing in much-needed cash to rebuild its conflict-battered economy.