Iraq Resumes Normal Crude Pumping to Persian Gulf, Shippers Say

By Alaric Nightingale

Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq resumed normal crude pumping to Basra Oil terminal, its facility in the Persian Gulf that handles most of the nation's oil exports, two people involved in the loading of cargo onto tankers said.

Pumping returned to about 72,000 barrels an hour, or 1.7 million barrels a day, yesterday after dropping to about 36,000 barrels an hour earlier this week, said the people, who declined to be identified because the information is private.

Neither knew the exact reason for the earlier reduction. A third official said equipment that is used for maintenance or checking for leaks had been sent through at least one of two pipelines.


The Basra resumption comes two days after Iraq again began pumping Kirkuk crude oil via a separate pipeline system in the north to Ceyhan, an export terminal on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Iraq produced an average 2.31 million barrels of crude a day in August, most of which is destined for export markets, according to Bloomberg estimates. Shipments through the northern pipeline are often intermittent and sometimes restricted by insurgent attacks.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alaric Nightingale in London at Anightingal1@bloomberg.net