Crude oil exports into the Gulf from Iraq’s Basra offshore oil terminal have been halted by bad weather after two days of reduced capacity.

High winds made it difficult for ships to enter the port, halting the country’s crude exports on 30 October, according to shipping sources quoted by Reuters news agency. 

This follows reduced exports from the southern terminals, at 912,000 barrels a day (b/d) on 29 October and 648,000 b/d on 29 October. This is down 60 per cent from the 1.63 million b/d exported on 26 October.

Iraq’s Gulf exports totalled 53 million barrels in September, at an average of 1.76 million b/d, close to terminal’s 1.8 million b/d capacity (MEED 24:10:11).