ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An oil tanker arrived at offshore loading terminals in Iraq’s southern Basra port on Friday to load two million barrels of crude after securing Iranian approval for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, Iraqi oil ministry sources said Saturday.
Two sources in Iraq’s oil ministry told Rudaw on the condition of anonymity that the oil tanker HELGA, sailing under the Comoros flag, has been anchored at Basra’s oil port since Friday evening and is set to transport two million barrels of Iraqi crude to international markets.
According to the sources, the vessel is scheduled to depart for the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday night or early Sunday morning. They added that the Iraqi government obtained prior approval from Iran for the ship’s passage.
A key sticking point in the US-Iran truce remains the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which more than one-fifth of global energy supplies pass during peacetime. Iran imposed restrictions on the route for most of the nearly six-week war with the US and Israel that began on February 28. During the conflict, US and Israeli forces struck more than 17,000 sites across Iran.