Iraq expects to start oil exports from a new Gulf terminal in 10 days after delaying its ceremonial inauguration to finish pipeline connections and testing.

Iraq's oil minister said last week test pumping of crude through the new single point mooring would begin and the terminal would be ready to receive vessels in February.

The OPEC producer's new terminal will add about 900,000 barrels per day to its export capacity, coinciding with a Western embargo on Iranian oil that could put pressure on global supplies. But hydrostatic testing of both the onshore and offshore sections of new pipelines to the terminal has not been completed.

The source, who is a member of Iraq's southern export expansion team said that "We have to complete the test on both parts of the pipeline and only then will we be able to connect the onshore pipeline with the offshore part. We need around 10 days to complete all the work.”

Iraq's USD 1.3 billion export expansion project in the Gulf includes two undersea pipelines and one onshore pipeline as well as four SPMs for loading tankers. Each new SPM will add about 900,000 barrels per day to Iraq's export capacity. Two other SPMs will be brought on line later in the year. Export capacity limitations have hampered Iraq's ambitious goal to vault into the ranks of the world's top crude producers.

Baghdad has awarded a series of development contracts to foreign majors such as Shell, Exxon Mobil and BP, targeting output capacity of 12 million barrels per day by 2017. Most analysts see 6 million barrels per day to 7 million barrels per day as a more realistic goal.

Mr Asim Jihad oil Ministry spokesman said that "We had bad weather in the Gulf at the start of this week that helped delay the work to complete the offshore part of the pipeline. We expect to start pumping crude through the terminal in the coming days."

(Sourced from Reuters)