Iraq has lifted its crude oil export capacity to more than 3 million barrels per day (bpd) and plans to raise it to 5 million as it works on new routes away from the Strait of Hormuz, Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudair said on Saturday.
Khudair told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that exports have reached around 3 million bpd since the start of September.
He said the government wants to increase capacity to 5 million bpd once strategic pipelines linking Iraqi fields to Fish-Khabur in the north and Syria’s Mediterranean port of Banias are completed.
Baghdad is also seeking to expand alternative export outlets as it looks to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz.
Last month, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered work to proceed on two strategic pipeline routes: Basra-Haditha-Fish-Khabur and Haditha-Banias.
