Tag: Iraq

International Container Terminal Services, Inc. has formally opened the first phase of its new greenfield terminal development at its Basra Gateway Terminal in the North Port, Umm Qasr, Iraq.

The new offshore oil export terminal resumed operations Iraq's new offshore oil export terminal resumed operations and loading late on Thursday, sources at the state-owned South Oil Company said.The terminal started working at 7.30 p.m. (1630 GMT) and was loading at 576,000 barrels per day, according to shipping data tracked by Reuters.'After finishing some technical and operational issues, the new export terminal resumed operations on Thursday evening,' sources at the South Oil Co. said on Friday.Iraq's Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi had said earlier on Thursday that bad weather and not technical faults was behind an interruption in the operation of the new offshore oil terminal, designed to ramp up exports.Iraq, which has some of the world's biggest oil reserves, has sweeping plans to increase its oil output and exports, which have been held back by a lack of loading infrastructure in the Gulf.The new single point mooring (SPM) terminal - the first of four being built by Australia's Leighton Holdings - came online on March 8 and loaded a tanker with 2 million barrels of oil by March 13, although it has not been operating since.Shipping data also showed exports from Iraq's southern oil terminals rose to 2.4 million ...

To enhance their marine cooperation Iran and Iraq reached an agreement on launching a joint shipping line to enhance their marine cooperation, Managing-Director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Seyed Ataollah Sadr announced.Speaking to FNA, Sadr underlined that launching a joint shipping line between Iran and Iraq will provide the ground for both countries' private companies to set up a joint company to increase their cooperation."Iran can have desirable cooperation in maritime and port fields with the friendly and brotherly country of Iraq," he added.Sadr also expressed the hope that Tehran and Baghdad would activate a joint committee in the near future for maritime cooperation.Tehran and Baghdad signed a number of bilateral agreements during Iraqi Transportation Minister Hadi Farhan al-Amiri's recent visit to Iran.During the visit, the Iranian and Iraqi officials also agreed to establish joint companies to facilitate transportation of goods and passengers between the two countries."On the sidelines of a recent meeting (between the Iranian and Iraqi road and transportation ministers), the two sides agreed to set up joint transportation companies," Iranian Deputy Minister of Road and UrbanizationShahriyar Afandizadeh told FNA on Saturday.He expressed the hope that the measure would further facilitate transportation between the two neighboring ...

Following the signing of a landmark agreement with the Iraq Ministry for Oil Following the signing of a landmark agreement with the Iraq Ministry for Oil to help the war-torn country develop the skills and training necessary to exploit its hydrocarbon resources, OPITO will welcome a senior delegation from Iraq on a fact-finding mission.The delegation, made up of five senior figures from Iraqs Ministry for Oil and the deans of the four oil technical institutes in Basrah, Kirkuk, Baghdad and Tikrit, is visiting Scotland for four days this week. The delegates will learn about Aberdeen-headquartered OPITO's MIST (Minimum Industry Safety Training) initiative, which has now been used to train 48,000 oil and gas workers in its first year.The delegation will also visit the newly refurbished oil and gas technical academy, ASET, the Robert Gordon University campus in Aberdeen, and Adam Smith College in Kirkcaldy.Under the terms of the agreement signed in Amman, OPITO will work with the Ministry to understand the skills needed and provide specialist guidance and support to help the country build a learning infrastructure. This will ensure that the people of Iraq can obtain the skills, knowledge and qualifications needed to access jobs in the countrys oil ...

The Gulf ports dispute is straining ties Sitting in a traditional black funeral tent near Iraq's only outlet to the sea, businessman Sadiq Jaafar is mourning the "death" of his country's biggest port -- even before it is built.For Jaafar and many other Iraqis, the long-delayed Grand Faw port project near the southern oil hub of Basra risks being killed off by a rival megaport already being constructed across the water by neighbouring Kuwait.The Gulf ports dispute is straining ties because Baghdad fears Kuwait's Mubarak port not only threatens competition that will crowd it out of trade from Europe and the Middle East but may also infringe on Iraqi territory, a charge Kuwait denies.The neighbours share more than just a narrow sea lane access to the Gulf, but also a long, bitter history of disputes over oil, water and land rights where the region's two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, sweep into the sea."This port won't only cause Iraq losses, but it is killing us off and launching an economic war," Jaafar, a board member of the Iraqi Business Federation's Basra branch, said at the tent he has set up in the southern city in imitation of those ...

Kuwait plans to develop a port just across its border with the country Iraq's main port will lose 60 per cent of its business and major new port plans will be scuppered if Kuwait goes ahead with plans to develop a port just across its border with the country, economists have said, Dredging today reports.The Kuwaitis laid the foundation stone to kick off the construction of Mubarak port, just over the border from the site of a new Iraqi port currently in construction, and close to Umm Qasr, Basra, Iraq's only deep water port last Tuesday.The move has flared historic tensions between the two states.Faleh Kadhim, an Iraqi ports expert, said the Kuwaiti port plans are in reaction to Iraq's attempts to compete with the Red Sea route currently used for most goods traveling from East Asia to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, through the construction of Al Faw Grand Port, together with a new railway system.The US$6 billion Iraqi project is part of a drive to modernize public infrastructure and kick-start Iraq's economy now that major new oil contracts have been signed. Goods would be able to reach Europe overland more quickly than ships might reach Egypt's ...