Iraq begins oil exports on tankers through Syria: ministry

Iraq has begun exporting crude using tanker trucks through Syria, its oil ministry said, as an official said oil revenue last month dropped more than 70 percent compared to February.

More than a month into the Middle East war that has wrought havoc on energy markets, Iraq has been particularly impacted as oil exports account 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 exporters in the oil-rich region, Iraq has been left scrambling for alternative routes, and in a statement late Wednesday, the oil ministry said 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 gave no further details.

A source in the Iraqi oil sector told AFP that out of a projected 299 trucks, "178 tankers loaded with fuel oil" had arrived at the Baniyas port refinery on the Mediterranean Sea as part of the "initial phase for exports".

"This shipment, the first of its kind, entered through the Al-Tanf border crossing from neighbouring Iraq," Safwan Sheikh Ahmad, spokesperson at the state Syrian Petroleum Company, told AFP.

He said the oil trucks would be unloaded at the Baniyas terminal, and transferred to tankers for further export.

"The initial shipment, consisting of 299 tankers, will enter Syria in batches, with the second batch expected soon," he said.

The announcement came as director of Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO), Ali Nizar, said that in March the country "generated revenues of nearly 28 percent compared to the previous month of February".

Oil expert Assem Jihad questioned the impact of the announcement on Syria as an alternative route.

"Exporting via tankers through Syria is very expensive and only secures the export of five million barrels of crude oil per month," he told AFP. Pre-war Iraq exported 3.5 million bpd.

He added that the agreement with Syria will only cover three months -- from April to June.

Last month, Iraq announced it had resumed limited oil exports of 250,000 bpd through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.