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Closure of Strait of Hormuz will be catastrophic for Iraq
By Nashour Ali
Azzaman, January 28, 2012
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz even for a short period will suffocate the Iraqi economy and bring economic activity in the country to standstill, a top Iraqi economist said.
The economist, Manaf Saib, said Iraq heavily relies on its terminals and ports on the gulf for its oil exports and imports of commodities.
“All projects will come to a halt and the government will not even be able to pay its employees in the public and service sectors,” Saib said.
Iraq’s Gulf ports were closed during the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran War and heavily damaged.
During the eight year war with Iran, Iraq relied heavily on Jordan and Turkey for its imports.
Gulf terminals and ports were rehabilitated after the war and currently they handle most of the country’s trade with the outside world and the largest bulk of its oil exports.
Iraq, almost a landlocked state, has one of the most extensive pipeline networks in the Middle East, linking its oil-producing centers to Turkish terminals on the Mediterranean, Saudi Arabian terminals on the red sea, and Syrian terminals on the Mediterranean.
The pipelines to both Syria and Saudi Arabia and not functional and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz will force the country to rely solely on its twin-pipelines across Turkey, which can only handle about 500,000 barrels a day, about one fifth of its oil exports.
Of the 66.5 million barrels Iraq exported in December, only 12.8 million barrels were shipped via Turkey.
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By Nashour Ali
Azzaman, January 28, 2012
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz even for a short period will suffocate the Iraqi economy and bring economic activity in the country to standstill, a top Iraqi economist said.
The economist, Manaf Saib, said Iraq heavily relies on its terminals and ports on the gulf for its oil exports and imports of commodities.
“All projects will come to a halt and the government will not even be able to pay its employees in the public and service sectors,” Saib said.
Iraq’s Gulf ports were closed during the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran War and heavily damaged.
During the eight year war with Iran, Iraq relied heavily on Jordan and Turkey for its imports.
Gulf terminals and ports were rehabilitated after the war and currently they handle most of the country’s trade with the outside world and the largest bulk of its oil exports.
Iraq, almost a landlocked state, has one of the most extensive pipeline networks in the Middle East, linking its oil-producing centers to Turkish terminals on the Mediterranean, Saudi Arabian terminals on the red sea, and Syrian terminals on the Mediterranean.
The pipelines to both Syria and Saudi Arabia and not functional and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz will force the country to rely solely on its twin-pipelines across Turkey, which can only handle about 500,000 barrels a day, about one fifth of its oil exports.
Of the 66.5 million barrels Iraq exported in December, only 12.8 million barrels were shipped via Turkey.
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