n the Persian Gulf, Iraq has three tanker terminals: Basra port (formerly known as Mina al-Bakr), Khor al-Amaya, and Khor az-Zubair (which mainly handles dry goods and minimal Oil volumes, plus Natural Gas liquids and liquefied Petroleum gas). Basra is Iraq's largest oil terminal, with two pipelines (48-inch and 41-inch), plus four 400,000-bbl/d capacity berths capable of handling very large crude carriers (VLCCs).
Gulf War damage to Basra appears to have been repaired in large part and the terminal reportedly was handling around 1.6 million bbl/d in mid-October 2004. Basra's nameplate loading capacity is 85,000 barrels per hour (around 2 million bbl/d), which is significantly above current capacity of about 50,000 barrels per hour (around 1.2 million bbl/d), suggesting that potentially higher volumes of oil than the nameplate capacity could be shipped out of the port.
On April 24, 2004, a suicide attack against Basra port damaged one tanker berth in the first such attack on Iraq's Persian Gulf export terminals since the onset of war in March 2003. On September 22, 2004, the Iraqi Oil Ministry signed a $15 million contract with Sinopec to build eight oil storage tanks, with a total capacity of 350,000 barrels, on the Faw Peninsula in southern Iraq.
Iraq's Khor al-Amaya terminal was heavily damaged by Iranian commandos during the Iran-Iraq War and also during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. In early March 2004, Khor al-Amaya reopened for oil exports, with initial capacity of 12,000 barrels per hour (300,000-400,000 bbl/d). Upon full completion of repairs, Iraq projects Khor al-Amaya's capacity is expected to reach 1.2 million bbl/d.
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