Iraq's southern crude flows back to normal: oil official

Dubai (Platts)--13Aug2004

Iraq's southern crude flows have returned to normal levels with the two crude
pipelines to export terminals now operational as violence continues throughout
much of the Shiite-dominated south of Iraq, an Iraqi oil official said Friday.
"Everything has returned back to normal," the Iraqi official said, though
cautioning that there have been "conflicting reports" on the status of the
country's southern crude flows. 

Following threats made to the South Oil Co by
the Medhi Army loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, Iraq's crude flows to
storage were reduced to 40,000 bbl/hour. Crude was moving only through the
42-inch pipeline running from the southern oilfields through the Faw Peninsula
to storage tanks. Iraq reportedly had 3.5-mil bbl of crude storage as of late
Thursday. The country's 48-inch pipeline, with a 40,000 bbl/hour capacity,
shutdown after the Medhi Army threatened to attack oil installations, forcing
Iraq to meet its export commitments with crude stocks. With both pipelines
running, crude flows are at normal levels, the official said.

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