Iraq News

A tanker carrying about 2 million barrels of Iraqi fuel oil was struck by a drone in Iraqi territorial waters on Wednesday, port officials said, and British navy-affiliated UKMTO reported that several merchant vessels in the Gulf had been hit by disabling fire overnight.A fire broke out aboard the Panama-flagged oil tanker New Andros after it was hit in Iraqi waters at around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Wednesday, two Iraqi port officials told Reuters.There were no reports of casualties among the 22 crew members…

Iraq's cabinet approved mechanisms for exporting Iraqi crude through specialized international and local companies and via multiple export outlets, the government said on Tuesday.The contracts under the new mechanism will run for three months starting September 1, according to a statement issued after the cabinet meeting.Iraq is seeking to diversify its oil export channels and maintain flexibility in marketing its crude amid the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz…

The United States has begun importing fuel oil of Iraqi origin shipped through Syria for the first time, according to shipping data and two sources familiar with the operations, as Iraq expands a Mediterranean export route established after disruptions to Gulf trade routes earlier this year.The alternative route is a further example of shippers seeking ways to move supplies around the world that circumnavigate the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed for several months…

Turkey and Iraq are set to sign, within days, a one-year agreement to keep open the crude oil pipeline between the two countries, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Thursday.Their decades-old pipeline agreement, which governs exports through the pipeline, is due to expire on July 27."We have brought the agreement that will cover the next 12 months to the final stage. We aim to sign it in the coming days," Bayraktar, who was in Baghdad for an official visit, said in a statement…

Supertanker Agios Fanourios I is heading for Vietnam to discharge its Iraqi crude oil cargo after it was held by the U.S. Navy for five days in the Gulf of Oman, the vessel's manager said on Monday.The Maltese-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz on May 10 and was sailing in the Gulf of Oman before making a U-turn on May 11.It resumed its journey toward Vietnam on May 16 and is expected to arrive at the Nghi Son refinery on May 30, LSEG shipping…

Iraq has reopened the Rabia border crossing with Syria after more than a decade to accelerate overland fuel oil exports and revive cross‑border trade amid disruption to Gulf shipping following the Iran war, Iraqi border officials said on Monday.The crossing, located in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province, will allow fuel oil shipments to be trucked through Syria while also reopening the route to commercial trade traffic that has been halted since the conflict that followed Syria’s civil war, officials said.The head of Iraq’s Border Ports Commission, Omar al-Waeli, said reopening Rabia would ease

Iraq has cut oil production by nearly 1.5 million barrels a day and those cuts could widen to more than 3 million bpd within days as the country runs out of storage and cannot export crude due to the Iran crisis, two Iraqi oil officials told Reuters on Tuesday.As of Tuesday, Iraq has cut production from the Rumaila oil field by 700,000 bpd, from the West Qurna 2 field by 460,000 bpd and from the Maysan field by 325,000 bpd, the officials, who did not wish to be named, said.That output cut could grow to over 3 million bpd if oil tankers cannot move freely through the Strait of Hormuz and reach

Oil prices slipped more than $1 on Monday after Iraq restored production at one of its oilfields which accounts for 0.5% of world oil supply, while investors weighed ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine.Brent crude futures were down $1.07, or 1.68%, at $62.68 a barrel by 11:05 p.m. EDT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $59.07, down $1.01, or 1.68%.Iraq restored production at Lukoil's West Qurna 2 oilfield, one of the world's largest, after a leak on an export pipeline slashed its output…

Turkey sharply reduced its imports of Russia's flagship Urals crude oil in November, shipping data from energy consultancy Kpler showed, as Western sanctions on Russian energy suppliers tightened and Turkish refineries shifted to alternative grades.Shipments of Urals to Turkey fell by 100,000 barrels per day from October levels, with total imports dropping to around 200,000 bpd last month, data from Kpler and LSEG showed.Turkey has become one of the largest buyers of Russian crude since 2022 when European buyers stopped purchases…

Iraq's navy has detained a Liberian-flagged oil tanker in its territorial waters as part of a crackdown on fuel smuggling at sea, sources with the navy and oil and transport ministries said on Friday.Smuggling is common in Gulf waters, where heavily subsidised fuel from some countries is sold on the black market to buyers across the region, though it has been relatively rare until recently for Iraqi authorities to seize ships.The vessel - identified by both the authorities and shipping sources as the Liliana tanker - was carrying 93…

Iraq's oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani has said that Iranian oil tankers seized by U.S. forces in the Gulf were using forged Iraqi documents.The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has restored "maximum pressure" on Iran, reviving a policy that seeks to isolate the country from the global economy and eliminate its oil export revenue in order to slow Tehran's development of a nuclear weapon.Abdel-Ghani was asked if he had received messages from the United States over the…

Iraqi naval forces have seized an unidentified ship in Iraqi territorial waters in the Gulf suspected of smuggling fuel, the naval forces said in a statement.Fuel smuggling is common in Gulf waters, where heavily subsidised fuel from some countries is sold on the black market to buyers across the region, though it is relatively rare for Iraqi authorities to seize ships.A naval patrol boat intercepted the ship on Tuesday after receiving intelligence about suspected illegal activity…