Iraq has begun exporting crude using tanker trucks through Syria, its oil ministry says, more than a month into a war that has wrought havoc on energy markets.
A founding member of the OPEC oil cartel, Iraq is hugely dependent on its oil exports, accounting for some 90 percent of its budget revenues.
Until Iranian attacks and threats all but shut the Strait of Hormuz in revenge for US-Israeli strikes, Iraq exported the majority of its oil through the strategic waterway.
Like other oil exporters in the oil-rich region, Iraq has been left scrambling for alternative routes, and in a statement, the oil ministry says it “has begun exporting oil by tanker truck through neighbouring Syria.”
Syria, it said, would “ensure the safe passage” of the oil, and added exports will “gradually” increase.
The statement gives no further details.
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