Shafaq News-Basra
Iraq isproceeding with the execution phases of the Basra-Haditha crude oil pipelinewhile manufacturing of the project's pipes remains underway, according toofficials and an oil expert who spoke to Shafaq News.
The project,one of the largest domestic crude transport schemes in Iraq, is intended toexpand export outlets and connect southern oil fields to new routes.
The pipelinewas originally designed to run beyond Haditha, a city in Iraq's westernal-Anbar province, and reach the Jordanian port of Aqaba, oil expert Hamzaal-Jawahiri told Shafaq News. It was later divided into two separate projects:a Basra-Haditha line with a capacity of 2.25 million barrels per day, and aHaditha-Aqaba line with a capacity of one million barrels per day. Iraq willbear the full cost of building and operating the first segment.
The secondsegment, according to al-Jawahiri, would supply Jordan with about 200,000barrels per day and export 300,000 barrels per day to Egypt, with additionalvolumes allocated to a refinery planned at Aqaba that he said is believed tohave a capacity of roughly 150,000 barrels per day. He added that Iraq wouldalso cover construction and operating costs for that refinery and for theexport terminal at Aqaba, and that no details have been announced on refineryownership or on which party would purchase its refined products.
Several filestied to the second segment remain unresolved among the beneficiary parties.al-Jawahiri noted that officials had previously stated the project would beconfined to the Basra-Haditha line, with any country seeking to buy Iraqi crudeat Haditha required to build its own pipeline at its own expense. “Is there anyviability of the project if no country submits a request to purchase crude fromthat point?”
ManufacturingAnd Supply Chain
Abbas Mohammedal-Asadi, director general of the State Company for Iron and Steel, said thatexecution of the project's two pipe manufacturing contracts was affected bysecurity conditions in the region and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, asthe disruption halted deliveries of imported billet from South Korea and Japan,despite contracts the investing company had concluded with Japanese, Korean andGerman firms to supply raw materials for manufacturing.
“The company'spipe plant is ready to begin production as soon as raw materials arrive,”al-Asadi said, adding that the Iraqi cabinet approved a mechanism allowing partof the manufacturing to be carried out outside Iraq to work around theexceptional circumstances and keep the project moving.
TheBasra-Halfaya contract has been completed, al-Asadi said, while work continueson the Basra-Haditha contract, which covers the manufacture of 380 kilometersof pipe with a diameter of 56 inches.
An oil sourcetold Shafaq News that the pipe manufacturing contract remains in its executionstages, and that the State Company for Iron and Steel had signed the contractand referred it to an investor operating inside the pipe plant, but that thedelayed arrival of billet prevented manufacturing from starting in Iraq. Thesame source said the manufacturing work is now set to be carried out in Indiaonce the raw materials are transferred from South Korea and Japan, with thepipes to be transported overland through Jordan and final inspection andacceptance conducted inside Iraq.