<article><p class="lead">Iraq's oil ministry is working to boost the country's crude oil storage capacity at the southern port of al-Faw as part of plans to nearly double its southern oil export capacity. </p><p>Iraq's exports have long been constrained by a lack of sufficient storage capacity. Projects to rejuvenate the port have been ongoing for years.</p><p>"The undersecretary for extraction affairs at the oil ministry [Karim Hattab] affirmed the ministry's desire to accelerate the completion and implementation of projects to develop the oil storage depot in al-Faw district in Basra Governorate, which aim to enhance and maintain southern oil exports," the oil ministry said yesterday.</p><p>Iraq is planning to expand its storage capacity at al-Faw to hold 24 tanks, each with a capacity of 58,000m3 (365,000 bl), taking total capacity to 8.76mn bl at the key crude export outlet. In March, state-owned Basrah Oil said it planned to add two such 365,000 bl tanks to the six already in place, <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2087000">by the end of this year</a>. It is as yet unclear by when it hopes to complete all 24 tanks. </p><p>But this is part of a wider scheme aimed at boosting the crude export capacity from Iraq's southern ports to 6mn b/d by 2023 from around 3.5mn b/d today. </p><p>Iraq's state-owned company for oil projects (SCOP) said it is building 16 of the tanks, while Bin Majid, a privately-owned Iraqi firm, will build the remaining eight, SCOP's director general Mahmoud Abbas said. </p><p>Hattam said the oil ministry also plans to implement a new marine pipeline project from the al-Faw storage terminal, alongside other "projects aimed at developing export outlets."</p><p>Engineering contractors have been waiting for Iraq to issue tenders for a bigger project, adding another 1.8mn b/d of pipeline capacity from al-Faw to the Basra Oil Terminal (BOT). That tender is expected in 2021. </p><p>Iraq was hoping to complete its Sea Line 3 export pipeline project, which would raise Iraq's southern export capacity by 700,000 b/d, <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2083723">by the second quarter of this year</a>. But this has been <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2151797">put on hold</a> for now, in part, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. </p><p>Iraq maintains its nameplate southern export capacity is around 4.6mn b/d, with operational capacity at 3.7mn b/d.</p><p class="bylines">By Adal Mirza</p></article>
