Normal crude exports from southern Iraq ports

Normal crude exports from southern Iraq ports "very soon":SOMO

Dubai (Platts)--18May2004


A key crude oil pipeline in southern Iraq has been repaired and is being
tested before normal exports resume from Iraq's Persian Gulf ports, SOMO
director general Shumkhi Farraj said Tuesday.

Farraj told Platts by telephone from Baghdad that the pipeline feeding Basra terminal was being tested for
leaks and that he hoped exports would return to their normal level of 1.8-mil
b/d "very soon." He said: "The pipeline is pumping to the terminal but exports
are not fully back to normal. They have to first check whether there are any
problems or leaks." The pipeline was hit by an explosion and fire May 9.
Exports resumed a day later but have been running at around half the
1.7-1.8-mil b/d that Iraq had achieved in recent weeks. Farraj also said that
unspecified "problems" with the northern pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfields
had halted the flow of crude oil to storage tanks in the Turkish port of
Ceyhan, adding that there were no immediate plans to issue a new tender for
Kirkuk.

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