Shafaq News- Baghdad
Around8.3 million barrels of Iraqi crude remain stranded and awaiting shipment,making Iraq the fourth-largest holder of delayed oil exports, according toS&P Global Commodity Insights.
Thereport ranked Iraq behind Iran (31.7 million barrels), Saudi Arabia (18.7million), and the UAE (17 million), while identifying Iraq and Oman as the maindrivers of the recovery in Middle East oil production.
Acrossthe Gulf, crude inventories reached 90.5 million barrels, while refinedpetroleum products accounted for the remainder of the more than 100 millionbarrels stored in the region. Kuwait accounted for 8.1 million barrels awaitingshipment, followed by Qatar with 4 million barrels and Oman with 2.2 million.
Iraq,OPEC's second-largest producer, exports about 95% of its crude through southernterminals, leaving it particularly vulnerable to interruptions in Gulfshipping. Eco Iraq, an economic affairs observatory, said the closure of theStrait of Hormuz, which carries around 20% of global oil supplies, had cost thecountry about 350 million barrels in lost exports by June 20, equivalent toroughly $37.7 billion in revenue.
TheStrait of Hormuz has remained largely closed since Feb. 28 after Iranrestricted maritime traffic in response to the US-Israeli war. Washington andTehran later agreed to resume shipping under a memorandum scheduled for signingin Switzerland on June 19.
: No exit but Hormuz: Iraq's economic vulnerability exposed
