Bloomberg: Iraq is urgently searching for buyers for its oil.
Bloomberg: Iraq is urgently searching for buyers for its oil.
2026-09-25
Shafaq News – Follow-up
Bloomberg reported on Friday that Iraq’s state oil marketing company SOMO offered buyers last-minute crude oil shipments due to the complexities of extremely high shipping costs for purchasing shipments from deep within the Arabian Gulf.
The agency quoted informed sources as saying that the availability of more oil for purchase, in an indication that some traders had withdrawn, prompted SOMO to offer crude for loading in late September to at least two companies.
According to the US agency, if Iraq is unable to find buyers or ships, the disruptions could add upward pressure on crude prices at a time when shipping costs are rising sharply and global markets are experiencing severe turmoil.
According to Bloomberg’s calculations based on data from the Baltic Exchange, shipping oil on giant crude tankers from the Gulf of Oman to East Asia adds about $20 to the price per barrel, which is about one-fifth of the value of the crude, which currently costs more than $100 a barrel to load, compared to a fraction of the delivery cost before the war.
Given its geographical location further from the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq faced greater shipping difficulties than some of its neighbors, relying instead on trading companies to market and transport its crude. It also offered significant discounts to incentivize buyers, reducing prices for its Basra Medium and Basra Heavy crudes in recent tenders.
Competition among Gulf Arab states to sell their oil has led some companies that previously loaded Iraqi oil to switch to other suppliers who offered larger discounts, leaving part of the Iraqi supply unloaded, according to Ali Nizar, head of SOMO, on September 20.
It was not immediately clear which oil traders had withdrawn from loading operations, leading to a surplus of crude. Vitol Group, Trafigura Group, TotalEnergies, and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) had previously been involved in transporting Iraqi crude through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Bloomberg.
shafaq.com
