Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) — Iraq is resuming efforts to transfer more oil straight from its southern export ports, with state marketer SOMO seeking customers for September shipments as restricted tanker access via the Strait of Hormuz reopens.
The offering includes Basrah Medium and Basrah Heavy, with purchasers likely to pick up the petroleum from Iraq’s Gulf export facilities rather than using alternate transfer arrangements devised during the recent shipping interruption.
The decision follows a significant breakthrough over the weekend, when Iran granted transit through Hormuz for several tankers carrying Iraqi oil in response to persistent diplomatic pleas from Baghdad.
For Iraq, even a partial reopening is crucial.
The majority of the country’s petroleum typically departs via its southern Gulf ports, rendering the economy especially susceptible when tanker traffic through Hormuz is halted.
Baghdad has spent recent weeks looking for methods to keep exports and government revenues coming. International merchants have utilized smaller boats and ship-to-ship swaps to transport some Iraqi barrels beyond the Gulf, while the government has stepped up attempts to enhance export capacity via Turkey and explore future routes via Syria and Jordan.
SOMO’s recent offering may give an early indicator of whether oil merchants are willing to return to loading straight from Basrah, despite ongoing security and transportation hazards.
QatarEnergy is also testing the market with oil available for collection within Hormuz, indicating that regional producers are progressively investigating whether traditional Gulf shipments may restart.
However, tanker movements remain far lower than usual, indicating that Iraq cannot count on Hormuz recovering to its pre-conflict role.
This uncertainty has fueled Baghdad’s desire to diversify its oil infrastructure. Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi’s administration seeks to increase exports via Turkey’s Ceyhan port and create new routes to the Mediterranean and Red Sea.
For now, the top objective is to send as many Iraqi barrels to foreign consumers as securely as possible while also restoring the oil revenue on which the government budget is largely dependent.
The SOMO tender is therefore more than just a crude sale. It is an early test of whether Iraq’s key southern oil-export infrastructure can resume regular operations after the Hormuz crisis, which revealed one of the country’s most serious economic weaknesses.