He said, “Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki formed a commission to investigate the waste of Basra oil. However, the commission did not conclude with any results because those responsible for it were the same ones benefitting from oil smuggling and concealing information.”
Mhanna added, “One of the foreign companies formerly operating in Iraq pointed to large discrepancies up to 50% upon loading crude oil into carriers,” indicating that “the company withdrew once it became aware of the corruption in oil export.”
“Many parties are involved in oil smuggling, and they should be held accountable for that. I have taken the necessary legal measures and addressed the prime minister and the Oil Ministry urging them to take action against the corrupt party but to no avail,” he said, pointing out that “although the Oil Ministry installed counters to measure oil in Basra’s ports, these counters were not calibrated properly. In 2013, I was able to replace them, but the problem persisted. The Oil Ministry blamed the waste of oil on the service contracts concluded with foreign oil companies. However, this is not the case since these companies are not responsible for oil counters.”
The parliament’s Oil and Energy Commission concurred with Mhanna. Member of parliament Aziz Kazem told Al-Monitor, “Iraq is using Aldhirah [measurement] system that measures the size of the carrier. It is an inaccurate method that allows oil smuggling.”
He added, “The commission decided to address the Oil Ministry in this regard and plans to call on its members to account for the amount of squandered export oil.”
Kazem stressed the need for “using advanced technology in exporting oil … especially amid the financial crisis the country is facing.”
The tertiary international testing company, Intertek, is tasked with testing the oil according to international standards agreed upon by Iraq and the client company buying the oil. Intertek is also responsible for measuring the quantity of oil loaded into the carrier’s counters installed in the port and within the carrier.
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