Repairs and protests halt a tenth of Iraqi oil output

A perspective of the West Qurna-2 oilfield is noticed in Basra, southeast of Baghdad March 29, 2014. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani

LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Iraq has halted around a tenth of its oil output due to maintenance and protests, in a even further blow to the presently limited worldwide supply at a time of mounting demand and soaring prices.

Iraq has briefly shut down its southern 400,000 barrel a working day West Qurna 2 oilfield right until March 2-10, two state oil officials with know-how of the field’s functions said on Friday.

A person formal mentioned the servicing incorporated work on new wells and the linking of new pipelines, and additional that Iraq would make up for the shortfall in creation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to give statements to the media.

West Qurna 2 is operated by Russia’s Lukoil.

Iraq has also halted a further 80,000 bpd of oil production and exports from its Nassiriya oil subject owing to worker security issues, Iraq’s state-owned Dhi Qar Oil Company said on Friday.

University graduates have engaged in violent protests in the southern Dhi Qar province in latest days to demand careers.

Iraq’s 480,000 bpd of crude outages make up nearly .5% of world wide oil offer and come at a fragile time for oil markets.

World wide benchmark Brent crude rose over $105 a barrel on Thursday for the 1st time considering that 2014 on fears that sanctions on main crude exporter Russia could disrupt source and include to present-day tightness. L1N2UZ09Z

In addition, some users of the Firm of the Petroleum Exporting International locations (OPEC), in which Iraq is the second-largest producer, have presently struggled to pump extra crude even as prices trade at a seven-12 months high.

The group and its allies, recognized as OPEC+, have been steadily unwinding document output cuts place in position in 2020.

OPEC+ is predicted to decide at a conference next 7 days to adhere to a prepared 400,000 bpd output rise in April. go through more

Iraq created 4.25 million bpd of crude in January, down by 26,000 bpd from the former thirty day period, according to an regular of 6 secondary resources applied by the OPEC secretariat.

The Iraq Oil Report, an market magazine, previously noted that the shutdown of West Qurna 2 would previous right up until March 14.

Reporting by Rowena Edwards in London, John Davison in Baghdad enhancing by Jason Neely, Kim Coghill and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

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