Shafaq News / Iraq aims to increase crude oil export capacity from its southern ports to 6 million barrels per day from the current 3.5 million barrels a day capacity, Karim Hattab, deputy oil minister for distribution affairs said in a statement.

Hattab said the increased capacity would be after 2023 and that the plan includes building 24 storage tanks.

The ministry of oil is keen to complete the projects to develop oil warehouses in Al-Faw district in Basra Governorate to boost southern ports crude export capacity.

Hattab added that "the ministry is currently implementing those projects, which include the construction of 24 storage tanks with a capacity of 58 thousand barrels, and power plants.”

It is noteworthy that Iraq exports crude oil from its southern fields through the Arabian Gulf ports to the south, and from the northern fields through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Iraq is the second–largest crude oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Saudi Arabia, and it holds the world’s fifth–largest proved crude oil reserves. Most of Iraq’s major known fields–all of which are located onshore–are producing or are in development.