By Gerald Jansen, for Oil Price. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraq Cuts Its Once-Popular Basrah Light Crude Oil Blend When Iraq introduced Basrah Medium into its portfolio of crude grades, it was believed that a stricter delineation of qualities […]
By John Lee. Iraqi oil minister Thamir Ghadhban has reportedly said he plans to offer a new Basrah Super Light grade, with up to 38 API gravity, in the next few years. According to S&P Global Platts, he added that this would depend on the development of the country's southern fields. A Basrah Medium grade, […]
By John Lee. Platts reports that Iraq plans to launch a new Basrah Medium crude oil grade "whenever logistics allow," to provide "more stability" in existing grades. It quotes Ali Nazar al-Shatari, the Deputy Director General of the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) as saying the new grade will have an API gravity of 29-30 degrees, […]
By John Lee. Iraq is planning to export 3.215 million barrels per day of Basra crude in June, according to a report from Reuters. Sources told the news agency that the total is slightly lower than last month's due to a reduction in supplies of the Basra Heavy grade. The exports consist of 2.448 million […]
By John Lee. Platts reports that Iraq plans to export an average of 3.28 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in October, a rise of 23,000 bpd from the previous month. It cites data from the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) showing planned export volumes of 80.68 million barrels (2.6 million bpd) of […]
By John Lee. Platts reports that Iraq will export 3.257 million bpd of Basra crude oil in September, up 13 percent from August. According to a provisional loading schedule seen by Platts, this will consist of 2.324 million bpd of Basra Light and 933,333 bpd of Basra Heavy grade. This compares to 2.078 million bpd […]
By John Lee. Iraq expects to load less Basra crude in March than in February, according to a report from Reuters. A preliminary loading programme for March shows exports of 3.38 million bpd from the southern terminals, down 6.9 percent from the 3.63 million bpd planned for February. February exports, if achieved, could exceed the […]
By John Lee. Iraq plans to export about 3.4 million bpd of crude oil from its southern oil terminals in January, according to a report from Reuters. This represents an increase of 17.2 percent on December's estimate, and is driven by the Basra Light grade, which is planned to increase 23 percent to 2.61 million […]
By Simon Kent. Traders in Europe have reported to Reuters that the Basra Light grade of crude is selling for $30 on the European market, as Iraq gains on Saudi Arabia as one of the main suppliers of oil to EU countries. Last year, Basra split its exports into Basra Light and Basra Heavy grades and […]
By Simon Kent. Iraq is planning a 26% rise in exports of Basra Light and Basra Heavy grades of oil, according to data seen by Bloomberg. The targets are 55 cargoes of Basra Light and 26 cargoes of Basra Heavy respectively. This would mean an increase from 90.5 million barrels exported in September, up to 114 […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that spot premiums for Basra Light crude hit a multi-year high on Thursday, after Iraq cut supply of the grade to export more of its new Basra Heavy oil in June. Traders told the news agency that the premium for June-loading Basra Light surged to more than $1 a barrel […]
By John Lee. Reuters reports that Iraq's plan to split its Basra crude into 'heavy' and 'light' grades from May should reduce quality issues dogging its exports, but adds that there will be challenges getting the price it wants and setting up the required infrastructure. An official at the state-run South Oil Company (SOC), who […]
