An oil-rich country like Iraq doesn’t have oil tankers and is now planning to buy them.
An oil-rich country like Iraq doesn’t have oil tankers and is now planning to buy them.
10-4-2026
Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Khudair al-Abadi told INA news agency on Saturday that his country’s authorities plan to purchase oil tankers specifically for Iraq in order to increase the volume of its oil exports.
The minister added: “The Ministry of Oil, in coordination with the government, is seeking to allocate financial credits from the budget to purchase oil tankers for the benefit of the Iraqi Oil Tankers Company (IOTC). This would enable the company to develop and take over crude oil transportation operations.”
The minister affirmed that thanks to its own fleet of tankers, the Iraqi company will be able to increase its export operations and profits.
The minister noted that Iraq exported more than three million barrels of oil per day at the end of September. In August, Iraqi oil exports reached 70 million barrels, significantly higher than the July figure of 42 million barrels per month, but still below the level recorded before the Iran-US war, which exceeded 99 million barrels per month.
Iraq is currently exporting its oil via multiple routes necessitated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to regional tensions. These routes include the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline in Turkey, as well as overland transport (tanker trucks) that carry hundreds of thousands of barrels daily through neighboring countries such as Syria (to the port of Banias) and Jordan. Exports via the Strait of Hormuz are also gradually resuming after months of near-complete halt and severe disruption.
burathanews.com
