Iraq ‘to resume oil exports from Turkish port’

LONDON - Reuters

Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO will sell its first cargoes out of the Turkish port of Ceyhan since March at the end of November after reaching a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government last week, market sources said late Nov. 26.

The oil will be a blend of Kurdish crudes, the sources said.

Italy’s Eni will load a cargo of about 600,000 barrels loading on Nov. 29 with Lukoil’s trading arm Litasco expected to pick up another, a regional shipping source and a trader said.

SOMO approached its clients following the deal with the KRG to see if they would be interested in buying the crude, traders said, at the official selling price for Iraq’s usual grade out of Ceyhan, Kirkuk.

Turkish oil refiner Tüpraş will buy the oil transported from Iraq to Turkey’s Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean coast, Tüpraş deputy director Hasan Tan said as quoted by news agency Anadolu Agency on Nov. 20.

The amount of oil to be purchased and the time span are to be determined, Tan told the agency, on the sidelines of the Atlantic Council Energy and Economic Summit 2014 in Istanbul.