NEWS: Iraq’s oil exports fall to lowest since war
1/3/2006 Reuters
kurdmedia.com
Baghdad: Iraq's oil exports fell to 1.1 million barrels per day in December from 1.2 million barrels in November, the lowest since exports began after the war in 2003, a senior oil official said yesterday.
Shamkhi Faraj, director general of Economics and Oil Marketing, said the fall was due to security problems in the north and bad weather at southern ports which halted exports for more than a week last month.
"Exports hit a low level in December at 1.1 million bpd. This is the lowest since exporting began again after the war," he said.
"The exports fell back because of the security situation. Exports from north are totally on hold. We also had bad weather in the south," he said.
Meanwhile, Iraq's exports in the south, which have been on hold for a week, resumed yesterday after weather improved and logistics problems at the Basra terminal in the Gulf were fixed, oil industry sources said.
"The weather is better now. Some ships were loaded and left." a source said. Tug boats at the terminal that had broken down a few days ago have been repaired, another source said.
The exports from the south constitutes the bulk of Iraq's production.
Iraq's exports from the north are still on hold after an explosion cut pipeline flows to Turkey's Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean.
The pipeline, which has been mostly idle since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, only resumed operations last week.
The country's security situation has also forced Iraq's biggest refinery at Baiji north of Baghdad to shut down.
Poland hopes to win drilling rights
Poland's new cabinet expects to gain rights to Iraqi oil deposits for its biggest fuel group PKN Orlen and has formed a joint commission with Baghdad on oil and gas, the Polish Prime Minister was quoted yesterday as saying.
"The inter-state commission on oil and gas issues will begin work in January. It will be mixed on a government level, but with company representatives present," Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz told the Zycie Warszawy daily in an interview.
The conservative government formed in October last week decided to extend its military mission in Iraq until the end of 2006 despite opposition at home and with no signs of economic rewards for doing so.
Polish firms have won military equipment contracts in Iraq but other companies like Orlen, which had hoped to win oil sector reconstruction contracts as payback for the country's support have largely been disappointed. "Orlen should have oil deposits. And it will have them," Marcinkiewicz said.
Asked if that would include Iraqi deposits, he said: "For sure as well."
Asked if that could happen this year, he said: "Possibly."
Orlen, whose stock value compared to regional competitors is discounted for its lack of access to deposits, has said it would unveil a strategy in January for intensifying efforts to gain exploration rights.
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