Iraq resumes oil exports from Al-Qayyarah oilfield
A policeman at West Qurna-1 oilfield operated by ExxonMobil, in Basra, Iraq. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Oil announced on Monday the resumption of oil loading and export operations from the Al-Qayyarah oilfield, with a capacity of 33,000 barrels per day.
An official statement mentioned that oil is transported from the oilfield by railways, with a quantity of 30,000 barrels per day, to oil exporting ports in the Arabian Gulf.
The Iraqi Oil Minister, Hayan Abdel-Ghani, explained that the Al-Qayyarah oil refinery is supplied with 3,000 barrels per day.
Abdel-Ghani elaborated that this step will generate additional financial revenues for Iraq, boost operations in the Al-Qayyarah refinery, and support transport companies, both in the private and public sectors, especially the Iraqi Oil Tankers Company (IOTC), and the Iraqi Republic Railways Company.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil for Extraction Affairs, Bassem Khudair, told INA that the ministry is keen to expedite the resumption of production operations from the Al-Qayyarah oilfield and to overcome technical and contractual problems.
Khudair indicated the importance of stabilizing and sustaining oil production from the oilfield, and to increase it according to development plans, INA illustrated.
In 2018, Iraq resumed oil production from the Al-Qayyarah oilfield in Nineveh governorate, after defeating ISIS terrorist groups, who controlled the oilfield, and carried out comprehensive reconstruction operations for the wells, facilities, and pipes that were damaged, then began exporting oil from this oilfield for the first time.
Since the resumption of work in this oilfield, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil aims to raise oil production to 60 thousand barrels, but it has not been able to reach this number so far.