Iraq is exploring alternative export routes for its crude oil after operations were halted in the south of the country owing to the US-Israeli war against Iran.
One option is to move between 100,000 and 200,000 barrels per day across land through Turkey, Syria and Jordan, Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani told the state-run Iraqi News Agency.
"Offers submitted by companies to transport crude oil by tankers are being reviewed" by Iraq’s State Organisation for Marketing of Oil, Mr Abdul Ghani said.
Discussions are also continuing with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to pump oil by pipeline through Turkey's Ceyhan port, he said. "A deal is expected to be signed in the coming days."
Iraq plans to continue producing about 1.4 million bpd to be sent to refineries, he said. The country produced about 4.3 million bpd with exports averaging about 3.4 million bpd before the war broke out. Oil revenue accounts for nearly 90 per cent of Iraq’s total income.
The Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of global crude passes, has been effectively shut to all traffic since the war broke out on February 28.
In his first statement since succeeding his assassinated father, new Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the closure of the strait should be maintained "as a tool to pressure the enemy". His statement was read on TV, but Mr Khamenei was not seen or heard.
Iraq's southern oil terminal operations largely stopped on Thursday after two oil tankers were attacked in the country's territorial waters, the government said in a statement.
The tankers were the Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu and the Malta-flagged Zefyros, Iraq’s State Organisation for Marketing of Oil said.
The Safesea Vishnu was chartered by a company contracted with Somo, a statement said. The Zefyros carried condensate produced by Basrah Gas. It was scheduled to sail to Khor Al Zubair Port in Iraq on March 12 to load another 30,000-tonne shipment of feedstock naphtha, it added.
Military spokesman Lt Gen Saad Maan condemned the attack as a “cowardly act of sabotage”. The incident “infringes on Iraqi sovereignty and Iraq reserves the right to pursue the necessary legal measures”, he said.
One crew member was killed and 28 were rescued, Lt Gen Maan added.
The regional war has caused what the International Energy Agency describes as the biggest disruption to global energy supplies in history.
