New life for Iraq’s southern oil export expansion

Iraq’s Cabinet has once again approved funding for a major export infrastructure upgrade that would increase southern crude export capacity by half a million barrels per day in just over a year, after suspending a previous authorization following opposition to the project contract.

Ministers on Tuesday re-approved the $416.9 million “Sealine 3” subsea crude oil export pipeline project, to be carried out by Dutch firm Boskalis and funded by a Japanese loan under the purview of the state-owned Basra Oil Company (BOC), according to a Cabinet statement.

The move comes a fortnight after ministers suspended a prior approval for the project granted in May, citing the need for “a review of the new contract.”

The new contract approved by Cabinet this week includes unspecified “amendments and improvements,” made to the formula after an audit by an Oil Ministry committee, according to a senior Iraqi government official briefed on the review process.