Iraq ratchets up oil export capacity by 900,000 a day

New mooring brings total of offshore facilities to four as country seeks to boost tanker loading capabilities

An Iraqi oil employee turns a valve as he checks pipelines at the Bai Hassan oil field, west of the multi-ethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, on October 19, 2017.
Kurdish peshmerga forces withdrew without a fight after federal government troops and militia entered Kirkuk, seizing the provincial governor's office and key military bases in response to a Kurdish vote for independence in September 2017. / AFP PHOTO / AHMAD AL-RUBAYE
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Iraq has increased oil export capacity from its southern ports by 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 4.6 million bpd after adding a new floating terminal in the Arabian Gulf, the oil minister Jabar Al Luaibi said in a ministry statement.

"Oil export capacity have reached unprecedented levels after adding a new single point mooring with an additional export capacity of 900,000 bpd", the statement said on Sunday.

Iraq now has four operational single point moorings (SPMs) for loading oil tankers.

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Last week Opec member Iraq increased oil exports from the southern Basra region by 200,000 bpd to make up for a shortfall from the northern Kirkuk fields.

The country reluctantly agreed in November to an Opec deal to cut production in a collective effort aimed at boosting oil prices.

It had argued that it should be allowed to produce at will to make up for three and a half decades of disruption due to wars and sanctions.

Oil exports from Iraq's southern fields reached to 3.240 million bpd in September. Iraq ships the bulk of its oil exports from its southern terminals on the Gulf.