Iraq plans to ship 17 cargoes of Basrah Light crude oil from the Persian Gulf in the first half of February, according to a loading program obtained by Bloomberg.

This would be two cargoes more than in the second half of January.

A total of 28.06 million barrels, or 1.87 million barrels a day, will be loaded from Basrah Oil Terminal (pictured).

The program comprises:

• 12 shipments of 2 million barrels each;
• two shipments of 1 million barrels each;
• two shipments of 715,000-barrels each; and,
• one shipment of 630,000-barrels.

Basrah Light is a so-called medium sour crude, which yields less higher-value refined products than benchmark grades such as Brent.

Loading programs are schedules of crude shipments compiled by field operators to allow buyers and sellers to plan their supply and trading activities.

(Source: Bloomberg)