Shafaq News..Iraq secures alternative oil export routes amid Hormuz disruptions

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq has secured alternative routes for oil exports
and activated border crossings to sustain trade as disruptions through the
Strait of Hormuz strain the country’s economy, Prime Minister Ali Faleh
Al-Zaidi announced on Friday.

Speaking at the eighth Baghdad International Dialogue
Conference, Al-Zaidi said the government has “more than one solution” to manage
the regional crisis. He acknowledged “difficult and challenging circumstances,”
calling restrictions in Hormuz a major economic obstacle and noting that the
waterway “did not close even during the harshest days of the sanctions.”

Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, relies on crude
for about 90% of federal revenue, making the Strait —normally a conduit for
roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies— critical to the country’s finances. Oil
Minister Basim Al-Abadi recently put July exports at about 49 million barrels,
while shipments have averaged around two million barrels per day since early
August, their highest level since the crisis began. Al-Zaidi this week ordered
oil companies to operate around the clock to boost output.

Read more: Iraq pushes new oil routes beyond Hormuz

Over the next six years, Al-Zaidi said the government
aims to raise Iraq’s OPEC production quota to between eight and 10 million
barrels per day.

He added that the draft budget for next year would
soon be submitted, with electricity and solar power among its priorities, and
assured public employees and retirees that government payments remain secure. Al-Zaidi
projected that changes to domestic fuel consumption under a new economic model
would save 17.8 trillion Iraqi dinars ($13.53B) annually.

On weapons outside state authority, the premier
indicated that political forces had agreed on the principle of bringing them
under government control and were working out a mechanism for handing them over,
ruling out armed confrontation with factions. He also maintained that the
government’s anti-corruption campaign retains broad political backing.

Read more: Corruption arrests in Iraq pass 210 under PM al-Zaidi

Organized by the Iraqi Dialogue Institute, the eighth
Baghdad International Dialogue runs through Aug. 22, bringing together
government, political, diplomatic, and academic figures to examine developments
in Iraq and the region.