Iraq seeks backup export options as Basra loadings falter

BASRA - Iraq is scrambling for backup oil export options after a faltering pace of Basra Gulf oil loadings in May left the government with its lowest monthly oil sales in decades.

The Cabinet on June 2 announced an emergency package to mitigate the crisis, directing the Oil Ministry to more than triple northern pipeline exports to Turkey, to 770,000 bpd, in less than three months. The plan also calls for initiating crude trucking to neighboring countries, targeting 420,000 bpd, including a new route to move Basra crude through Syria’s Mediterranean ports at Baniyas and Tartous.