Security of Iraq oil expected to improve with Umm Qasr port revamp

The Iraqi Navy is paying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revamp part of Umm Qasr port in southern Iraq, the first Iraq to U.S. Foreign Military Sales project and vital to securing oil exports.

The Iraqi government in effect has contracted GRD for a $53 million rehabilitation of the Umm Qasr pier and seawall near the Kuwait border on the western side of the al-Faw Peninsula, which juts into the Persian Gulf, Ben Lando reports for United Press International.
More than 70 percent of Iraq’s oil exports are sent to market via Gulf tankers. Southern oil infrastructure has been less affected by violence than that in the north since 2003. Tucked between Kuwait and Iran, however, the path for most of Iraq’s oil exports — on which the country is dependent — has seen two wars and faces piracy and other threats from the water.

When completed, both Iraqi navy and other boats, tasked with protecting the terminals where oil is loaded into ships, will have a berthing facility and headquarters.

Iraq Oil Report