Iraq restart crude oil shipments

BAGHDAD - The Associated Press

A worker adjusts a pipe at an oilfield, 300km southeast of Baghdad. REUTERS photo

A senior Iraqi oil official says shipments from the country’s main oil export terminals on the Persian Gulf have restarted after being halted earlier in the week due to bad weather.

Deputy Oil Minister Ahmed al-Shamaa confirmed to The Associated Press yesterday that exports had resumed from the southern oil terminals, but he didn’t say how much oil was being shipped.
Shipments were stopped Oct. 21 because of bad weather.

Most of Iraq’s oil is shipped by sea from the southern export terminals, and returns from crude account for the bulk of the government’s budget.

Iraq has raised crude oil output to 3.4 million barrels a day. It recently beat out sanctions-saddled Iran to become the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) second-biggest producer.

Separately, Iraq yesterday inked a multi-million dollar deal with South Korea’s KOGAS that will set in motion the building of two key gas pipelines in the country’s north - the latest step by Baghdad to develop dilapidated infrastructure to meet growing energy needs. The $127.5-million deal stipulates that state-run KOGAS would construct two 110 kilometer-long pipelines to link oil-rich city of Kirkuk and the industrial city of Beiji.