BASRA, Iraq – An oil tanker arrived on April 24 at Iraq’s oil terminals in the southern province of Basra, an official from the country’s port authorities told AFP.
This is the second such announcement since the wartime disruption of the Strait of Hormuz.
The media office of the port authorities said that “Iraq’s ports are receiving new oil tankers”, and are “committed to providing the best maritime services to all arriving commercial and oil vessels”.
The official told AFP that Iraq “received only one tanker” on April 24, and a video shared by the port authorities showed a tanker bearing the name HELGA.
Earlier this month, Baghdad said it had reached “understandings” with the United States and Iran to reduce the impact of the Hormuz blockade on Iraqi oil exports.
On April 17, port authorities said Iraq received a tanker to load two million barrels of Iraqi oil, the first to arrive after the closure of the vital waterway.
A founding member of the OPEC oil cartel, Iraq normally exports the majority of its crude through the strait, but like other exporters in the oil-rich region, it has been left scrambling for alternative routes.
Authorities announced earlier this month that Iraq began exporting crude using tanker trucks through Syria, after resuming oil exports of 250,000 barrels per day through the Turkish port of Ceyhan. AFP
