Iraq Hikes Oil Exports via Hormuz in Boon for Asian Refiners

OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq, more than doubled its crude oil exports via the Strait of Hormuz in August as it offered month-watering discounts for loadings at Basrah in the Persian Gulf and Iran allowed Iraqi oil cargoes to transit the chokepoint. Iraqi oil exports jumped to some 2.34 million barrels per day (bpd) in August from 1.35 million bpd in July, two Iraqi energy officials told Reuters , in data consistent with estimates of vessel-tracking firms Vortexa and Kpler, who see Iraq’s oil shipments at between 2.2 million bpd and 2.3 million bpd last month. Although these volumes continue to trail the pre-war levels of over 3.5 million bpd, the increased flows would benefit those refiners in India and China that are geared to process the heavier and higher-sulfur crude from Iraq. Last month, Iranian state media reported that Tehran had granted permission to a number of oil tankers with Iraqi crude to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which has eased Baghdad’s export bottleneck. It’s not clear if all Iraqi oil tankers are allowed to move through the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.