The Iraqi cabinet has approved a $733 million deal for Leighton Offshore to build a new oil export terminal in the city of Basra. A spokesperson for the government, Ali Al Dabbagh, said the, “capacity of the new terminal will be 1.8 million barrels a day".
The terminal is expected to be operational in about 15 months, once the work commences. Dabbagh said that once the terminal is completed it would raise Iraq's oil exports capacity from southern terminals on the Gulf to 3 million b/d.
The approval followed a request by the Iraqi oil ministry to award the contract to Leighton Offshore, chosen out of four international companies invited to submit bids for the project. Dabbagh said that the project also includes extending pipelines to the terminal.
A sum of $175 million has been allotted for the project so far, the remainder would be allocated in the 2011 budget, said Dabbagh.
Iraq intends to install four new floating oil terminals and three new undersea oil pipelines to replace the old ones in Basra port and increase export capacity to 8 million b/d.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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