Iraq's Basra oil exports restored after bad weather

Oil exports from Iraq's southern Basra terminals were restored to 2.35 million barrels after bad weather reduced exports by almost half.

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Oil exports from Iraq's southern Basra terminals were restored to 2.35 million barrels on Saturday after bad weather reduced exports by almost half on Friday, according to a shipping industry source.

The source said daily output had fallen to 1.32 million barrels on Friday.

"Weather has improved around the export ports and three ships are loading crude this morning," the source told Reuters.

Exports from Basra's offshore terminals, Iraq's main oil hub, tend to fluctuate because of weather or technical problems. Iraq exports the bulk of its crude from the southern ports on its small strip of the Gulf coast.

With ambitious plans to double its oil production over the next three years, Iraq has passed the 3 million bpd production level for the first time in three decades and has overtaken Iran to become OPEC's second biggest oil producer after Saudi Arabia.