Mon, May 5, 2014
by Faleh Al-Khayat
Iraq exported 2.509 million b/d of crude in April, all from its southern oil terminals as the country's northern export pipeline remained inoperable.
April exports were 112,000 b/d more than the 2.397 b/d exported from the country in March, but still well below February's rate of 2.8 million b/d, which was the highest since 1979, just before the Iraq-Iran war. The figures are derived from daily terminal status reports, obtained exclusively by Platts.
The decline since February is primarily attributable to the suspension since March 2 of exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline due to a major sabotage attack in northern Iraq. Insurgent threats have prevented repair crews from traveling to the site of the attacks and it remains unclear when the damaged pipeline will resume operations.
Nonetheless, Iraq set a new post-war record in April for exports through its southern terminals, surpassing the previous 2 million b/d record established in February 2013.
The daily terminal status reports for April shows clear weather the Persian Gulf for the entire month enabling pumping and loading to continue uninterrupted.
They also show that all jetties at the Al-Basrah and Khor al-Amaya terminals were operational throughout the month, as well as the two Single Buoy Moorings that Iraq has brought into operation in the Persian Gulf to date. However, the Khor al-Amaya jetties were vacant for significant periods in April due to the unavailability of compatible tankers.
To read the full piece from Platts, McGraw Hill Financial, click here.