Page 6 - MEOG Week 31 2022

MEOG PIPELINES & TRANSPORT MEOG

Iraq keen to further develop pipeline network

IRAQ IRAQ’S Deputy Minister for Distribution & had hoped to raise this to 3.45mn bpd by the end
Refining Affairs, Hamid Yunis this week noted of June. This has now been revised to 3.35mn
Baghdad’s desire to expand and upgrade the bpd in August and 3.45mn bpd. However, the
country’s oil pipeline network and other oil sec- source said: “I’m not sure if BOC can meet this
tor infrastructure to support both the up- and deadline due to the delay in the [pumping sta-
downstream. tions] project.”
Speaking while chairing last week’s meeting While Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar has
of the board of directors at the Oil Pipeline Co. set targets for oil production that have changed
(OPC) – which reports to the Ministry of Oil on an almost quarterly basis, Deputy Prime Min-
(MoO) – Yunis emphasised the role of infra- ister Ali Allawi, who is also Iraq’s Finance Minis-
structure in “strengthening and sustaining res- ter, said in June that the aim of adding 3mn bpd
ervoir capacities and to achieve high flow in the of output capacity by 2027 is not realistic.
mechanisms and operations of oil and oil prod- He highlighted severe export constraints as
ucts, pumping and distributing through the the key obstacle to expanding capacity, describ-
related designated lines.” ing the subsea pipelines that link to ABOT’s
He noted that planning oil infrastructure offshore single-point moorings (SPMs) as old,
improvements would aid upstream production, costly and a “very, very sensitive element of our
refining and other sectors that rely on crude export capacity”.
oil and/or petroleum products, while prais- Allawi said: “I don’t think we’ll be expanding
ing OPC’s efforts to stabilise and upgrade the our capacity beyond … another 1mn bpd within
network. five years.” He later clarified that the 6mn bpd
Yunis’ comments follow reports suggest- figure was what he thought was “realistically”
ing that infrastructure bottlenecks are likely to achievable by Iraq during that timeframe.
hamper Iraq’s chances of meeting ambitious BOC is also working to rehabilitate two pipe-
upstream capacity and production targets. lines that feed the nearby Khor al-Amaya Oil
Basra Oil Co. (BOC) – a subsidiary of the Terminal (KAAOT). Ruptures in the conduits
state-owned Iraqi National Oil Co. (INOC) – forced the terminal to go offline in 2017 and
had been hoping to increase the export capac- only return to operations briefly in the interven-
ity at the Al-Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT) by ing period.
around 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) during Q2, According to the MoO, OPC deputy direc-
but delays improving flows to the facility have tor-general Majid Abdul-Reza said at last week’s
pushed the completion date back. ABOT has a meeting that the company is working to upgrade
current capacity of 3.5mn bpd, which Iraq uses the pipelines grids, repair damage, install new
almost in its entirety. pipelines and increase the storage capacity to
In mid-July, Reuters quotes a local industry secure fuel for consumers, power stations and
source as saying that infrastructure allows for vital sectors, with a view to serving the public
exports of just 3.3mn bpd from ABOT, but BOC interest.™

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 31 03•August•2022