Iraq has increased its crude oil production capacity to more than three million barrels per day and managed to boost hydrocarbons exports in September despite disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, the country’s oil minister has said.
Opec’s second-largest producer is now looking to further boost its production as it expects alternative pipelines and the country’s improved export infrastructure comes on stream, Bassim Khudair told the Iraqi News Agency.
"Iraq has been able to export three million barrels of oil per day since the beginning of September," the state news agency quoted him as saying on Saturday. “The government plans to increase export capacity to five million barrels per day after the completion of the strategic pipelines extending to Fishkhabour and Baniyas, in addition to the export terminals in the Strait of Hormuz."
Iraq has been one of the producers hardest hit by the Iran conflict, with Tehran effectively closing the strait and attacked commercial ships. Iraq's oil exports have plunged from about 4.2 million bpd in February, before the war broke out, to about 1.45 million bpd within three months, Opec data shows.
Attacks on commercial shipping and tankers exporting hydrocarbons through the strait have continued after the June ceasefire deal between Iran and US unravelled.
The recent escalation in retaliatory strikes between the US and Iran have dimmed the hopes for peace. The US on Saturday said it struck three Iranian oil tankers after Tehran attacked American naval vessels.
Negotiated passage
With no immediate signs of the reopening of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil and gas supplies passed before the conflict began, Iraq has chosen to directly negotiate passage for its tankers with Tehran.
In the last week of August, Iraqi President Nizar Amidi said Iran had granted permission for several Iraqi oil tankers to pass through the strait. “There is facilitation for some tankers carrying Iraqi oil in the Strait of Hormuz,” he said at the time, without providing details of the deal between the two countries.
The Iranian state news agency Irna at the time reported that Tehran had given permission to Iraqi vessels to cross the waterway after repeated requests from Baghdad. Permission to pass through the strait was one of Baghdad's main requests during Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf's visit to Iraq, the agency said.
While Iraq is seeking passage for its exports through the waterway, it is also working to build pipeline projects linking Iraq to Ceyhan in Turkey and Baniyas in Syria, to bypass the strait. Iraq already has signed an agreement with Syria for the Haditha-Baniyas oil pipeline.
