Iraq is aiming to export some 2 million barrels a day of Basra light and Kirkuk crude oil in the first half of 2010, the head of the State Oil Marketing Organization told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.
Iraq is aiming to export some 2 million barrels a day of Basra light and Kirkuk crude oil in the first half of 2010, the head of the State Oil Marketing Organization told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.

That compares with an average of 1.906 million barrels a day Iraq exported in 2009, according to figures obtained from SOMO.

Falah Alamri said 1.550 million barrels a day are expected to be sold via the southern Basra export terminal, while the remaining 450,000 barrels a day will be exported via the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan .

"We are hoping to export even more," he said.

SOMO has signed term contracts with international companies to lift some 2.24 million barrels a day during the first half of 2010, according to its figures. However, the difference between the signed term contracts and how much Iraq is expected to sell is down to the fact that some companies might not buy all the quantities they ask for.

The marketing body also announced earlier this month an offer to sell 3 million barrels of Basra light crude on the spot market for loading in March, the first such move in decades.

Alamri said SOMO wants to start a new business delivering Iraqi crude oil to customers on the basis of cost, insurance and freight. "We have received requests from some companies that they are ready to buy our crude on the spot market."

Iraqi Oil Tankers Co., an affiliate of the oil ministry, is currently negotiating with some well-known companies to enter joint-venture to transport Iraqi crude oil to buyers, he said.

Iraq used to ship most of its own crude oil to customers through a fleet of oil tankers but that ceased to operate at the beginning of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war when all vessels were either destroyed or neglected until they sank.

Iraq , whose primary source of revenue is oil, needs major investment to boost oil output after years of sanctions and war. The Iraqi oil ministry has awarded 10 large oil fields deals to international companies at the country's first and second bidding rounds this year.

Iraq 's crude oil production from these projects if implemented could increase nearly five times the current country's crude oil production of around 2.4 million barrels a day in six to seven years, according to Iraqi oil officials.

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