 According to a report from Bloomberg, Iraq is set to increase its exports of Kirkuk crude via the creaking Ceyhan pipeline by 20% in April.
Citing a loading program, Bloomberg reports that 24 cargoes will be shipped, up from 21 in March. Oil will be pumped onto tankers at an average rate of 510,000 bpd, up from 425,484 bpd in March.
The Kirkuk to Ceyan pipeline is strategically vital both to exports from Kirkuk and for the export of oil exports from the Kurdish region, which pipes or trucks its oil to Kirkuk for loading into the main Iraqi pipeline.
However the line is old and remains in a parlous state after years of ad hoc repair and sabotage. The Iraq Oil Ministry recently confirmed that the state of the pipeline knocked back scheduled exports from Ceyhan earlier this year. In January, 17 cargoes of crude totaling 387,677 bpd were shipped versus a planned 447,742 bpd, and in February 369,447 bpd were shipped compared with a planned 448,276 bpd.
