Iraq On Target for Record Oil Exports in April
Posted on 17 April 2012. Tags: oil exports
Reuters reports that Iraq’s oil exports from its southern ports have jumped by 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April, indicating that shipments are heading for another post-war record.
Exports from the al-Basra oil terminal (ABOT), Khor al-Amaya, and the new single-point mooring (SPM) on the Gulf have averaged a combined 2.11 million bpd in the first 16 days of April, up from a rate of 1.92 million bpd in March.
So far in April, the new SPM facility has exported four 2 million-barrel shipments, allowing companies to ramp up production at the southern oilfields.
If shipments from the south are sustained at current levels for the rest of the month, Iraq will be on course to ship about 2.5 million bpd, exceeding March’s total of 2.32 million bpd, which the State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) said was the highest since 2003.
Data from Bloomberg suggests that will happen, with Iraq planning to ship 19 cargoes of Basrah Light crude from the Persian Gulf in the second half of April.
The schedule comprises 12 cargoes of 2 million barrels each, five 1 million-barrel lots, one 1.9 million-barrel and one shipment of 630,000 barrels, bringing total exports to over 31.5 million barrels, or 2.1 million barrels a day, in the secong half.
(Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg)
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