Iraqi southern oil exports to resume fully

Iraqi southern oil exports to resume fully

in under one week: SOC

Dubai (Platts)--23Nov2004


Iraq's southern oil exports are expected to return to normal within less than
a week after damage to one of two key pipelines reduced crude flow rates to
46,000 bbl/hour, or 1.1-mil b/d, the director general of the South Oil Co
Jabbar Luweibi said Tuesday. "It will take less than a week to fix," Luweibi
said. "When it was fixed we will tell you." 

Shipping agents said the current flow rate would continue for some 4-6 days

because of the pipeline damage.
"The SOC will need about two days to stop the fire and about four days to
repair the pipe," a shipping agent said. There has been some uncertainty about
the cause of damage to the pipeline. It was initially thought that sabotage
caused the crude disruption. But Luweibi said flows through the pipeline had
been stopped by a leak from erosion and that flow would only drop temporarily.
Iraqi oil minister Thamer Ghadban also said sabotage was not the cause of
damage. Ghadban was speaking to reporters after appearing before the interim
legislative council to outline his ministry's plans.

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