Iraq’s oil minister Abdul Kareem Al Luaibi yesterday confirmed that the first stage of the country’s oil export terminal expansion will begin taking crude at the end of the month.
When all three stages of the terminal Iraq’s single point moorings (SPM) marine export capacity will be increased by 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd). The completion of the first SPM adds 900,000 bpd capacity.
“This is the most important project to be implemented in Iraq – not only in the oil sector but all of Iraq,” Al Luaibi told the press yesterday.
The country is aiming for oil exports of 2.5 million bpd in 2012, with a rapid ramp up thereafter as production from the giant south fields of Rumaila and West Qurna 1 increases.
The project marks the start of real improvements in Iraq’s capacity as a globally-significant oil exporter, as the country renovates and replaces decrepit oil infrastructure inherited from the sanctions-hobbled Hussein regime.
Iraq’s oil is currently exported chiefly through two terminals which can handle around 1.7 million bpd. Without the completion of the SPM on time, Iraq would lack the ability to export its increasing oil production.
According to a Reuters report citing a senior Iraqi oil official, exports of Basra Light crude will initiailly increase by 200,000 bpd in February to 1.9 million bpd, before rising by a further 200,000 bpd in March. Together with 400,000 bpd of Kirkuk crude exports, Iraq will then be exporting a post-war record 2.4 million bpd.
The SPM project, which has been delayed by a month for testing, has been managed by American EPC firm Foster Wheeler for the South Oil Company.
Luabi is in Tehran today to seek reassurances from his Iranian counterpart about the current threat to export security in the Strait of Hormuz, through which most of Iraq’s oil exports pass.
