January 18, 2012 [Bloomberg] - The first of four new Iraqi single- point mooring facilities will be ready to start pumping oil for tankers on Jan. 25, said Dhia Jaafar, director general of South Oil Co.
The project involves laying pipelines, eight storage tanks and three other mooring facilities, he said in an e-mailed statement today. Each of the four facilities will add 900,000 barrels a day of exporting capacity for crude oil, Hussain al- Shahristani, deputy prime minister for energy affairs, said Dec. 22.
Iraq holds the world’s fifth-largest crude deposits including Canadian oil sands, according to BP Plc. The Middle East country’s crude exports rose 1.9 percent in December to an average 2.175 million barrels a day, Falah al-Amri, head of the State Oil Marketing Organization, said Dec. 18.
The government is seeking foreign investment to raise production and exports to promote economic growth. It has granted 15 oil and gas licenses since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted former President Saddam Hussein.
