Iraq plans to double exports from Amaya oil terminal to 1 million bpd
A network of pipeline connecting Iraq’s northern oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. File Photo
Basra (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s oil ministry said Sunday it was going to drive up exports from a major oil field in the south to one million barrels per day over the next few years.
Deputy petroleum minister for production and exploration, Karim Hattab, said the ministry plans to increase the exporting capacity of Amaya terminal in Basra to nearly one million barrels per day, adding that the Basra Oil Company continues to work on development and rehabilitation of the terminal for that purpose.
According to Hattab, the terminal’s current capacity stands at 250.000 barrels per day, and is expected to reach 600.000 bpd within the coming period through new pipelines, pumps and storage facilities, later reaching more than one million over the coming years.
Iraq exports most of its oil production through Amaya and Basra ports, besides other separate floating terminals. The South Oil Company in Basra declared in January it was dredging Amaya’s berth for the first time since its inauguration 50 years earlier.
On Saturday, Hattab said production capacity from Leheis, another field in southern Iraq, will be raised from 100.000 barrels per day to 120.000.
Iraq is OPEC”s second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, recording a daily production of 477.5 million barrels per day in 2016.
Despite the planned increase, Iraq is recommending an extension of an OPEC agreement to cut members’ production, by 1.8 million barrels daily, beyond June.
A spokesperson of the Cabinet, Saad al-Hadithi, said Iraq wants the production cuts to extend for nine extra months to offset oversupply and enhance prices. He said the slashed production since the signing of the agreement last year had helped improve oil revenues gradually for exporting companies