South Oil Company News

Repair work at a Basra oil jetty damaged by a tanker collision last month were completed on Sunday, two officials at state-run South Oil Company told Reuters on Monday.   Crude exports from the Basra terminal were not affected by the collision that happened on March 24, when strong winds caused a very large crude carrier (VLCC) to lurch into berth number 1.   A one-million-barrel vessel, the Storviken, was anchored at that berth early on Monday, loading a cargo of light crude, said the two South Oil Co. officials.   OPEC's second-largest producer, after Saudi Arabia, Iraq exports most of its crude from the southern Basra region, on the Gulf. The Basra terminal's loading capacity is estimated at around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd). (Reporting by Aref Mohammed

MidEast rates slip from two-week high on June 28; raft of new ships and repaired vessels weigh on rates. Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCCs) will continue to soften next week as ample tonnage supply weighs on the market, although a raft of Middle East fixtures are expected to put a floor under charter rates, ship brokers said on Friday. That came as VLCC rates from the Middle East rose to a two-week high on June 28 before slipping slightly, while rates from West Africa held steady. "We feel the market has a soft undertone. Each fixture is around the same rate as the previous charter or a shade less. Rates are not diving down," said a European supertanker broker on Friday. "Tonnage is quite ample - there should be enough to cover charterers' needs.

Asia to buy nearly 60 percent of Iraq's Basra Lt exports. Export facilities upgrade, new fields to boost volume in second half, but Buyers remain wary of quality issues, loading delays. Iraq's rush to pump more oil to Asia has coincided with complaints from some buyers about the quality of its crude, casting doubt on whether Baghdad can increase the volumes of its key Basra Light grade to the region by a third in 2014. The Gulf producer has managed to smooth out kinks in its supply chain that curbed Basra Light exports from southern oil terminals last year. The higher output has helped cap oil prices pushed up by recent geopolitical tensions and supply disruptions in Libya, Iraq's own north and elsewhere.

Smit Lamnalco has secured the turnkey contract to support Single Point Mooring operations for The Iraq Crude Oil Export Expansion Project (ICOEEP). The scheme, 20 km off the Al Fao Peninsula, looks to triple oil exports from Iraq. The SPM contract covers operations and maintenance of four SPM systems and runs for up to three years, a term that would generate over US$200 million for Smit Lamnalco. The agreement involves the full scope of maritime support services for the export facilities.

In Iraq, Saipem has been awarded by South Oil Company the EPIC contract for the Iraq Crude Oil Export Expansion Project – Phase 2, within the framework of the expansion of the Basra Oil Terminal, off the Al Faw Peninsula in the Arabian Gulf, approximately 550 kilometres south-east of Baghdad. The contract encompasses the engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of a Central Metering and Manifold Platform (CMMP), to be installed in a water depth of 28 metres, along with associated facilities.