Iraq's southern terminal loadings continue at normal rates

Iraq's southern terminal loadings continue at normal rates

Dubai


Iraq's southern crude loadings continued at normal levels Monday with the
resumption of pumping through the 48-inch pipeline after 14 days offline due
to violence in southern Iraq, port agents and an Iraqi oil official said.
Loading at the Persian Gulf Basra oil terminal reached normal levels Saturday
when pumping crude rates hit around 83,000 bbl/hour, an Iraqi oil official
said. Now the second pipeline is pumping on "full flow," two port agents said.
The Starlight Jewel and the Marjan are loading at a combined rate of some
82,000 bbl/hr at the Basra terminal, while the Kamlesh is waiting to load at
the Khor al-Amaya. Loading at the two terminals had dropped to 36,000 bbl/hour
to 40,000 bbl/hour after the Mehdi Army, loyal to provocative Shiite cleric
Moqtada Sadr, threatened and then attacked oil installations run by the South
Oil Co in Basra. The 48-inch pipeline closed and Iraq was only able to move
crude through its 42-inch pipeline from oilfields to storage.

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