Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 22 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /
Iraq has a clear plan of oil supplies in case Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, spokesman for the Iraqi oil ministry Asym Jihad told Trend on Wednesday.
"Undoubtedly, the Strait of Hormuz is the main route of oil exports from Iraq. However, the country took measures in the case of its closure," Mr Jihad said.
Iraqi Planning Minister Ali Al-Shukri said earlier closure of the Strait of Hormuz will almost halve the export of the Iraqi oil.
"In the case of closure of the Strait of Hormuz it would be impossible to immediately find alternative sources to fill the shortage of oil," Mr Al-Shukri said.
He said last year 1.7 million barrels per day of the total Iraqi export of 2.4 million barrels per day were exported from the port of Basra to the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iraq will be able to increase the supply of oil through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which will continue to be carried out through the Turkish port of Ceyhan in the Mediterranean Sea, Mr Jihad said.
Thus, Iraq will be able to increase transportation through pipeline from 400,000 barrels to one million barrels per day.
Mr Jihad noted that in case of closing the Strait of Hormuz Iraq will be forced to cut production and delivery from the southern oil fields.
"Iraq does not consider that the Strait of Hormuz may be blocked. But even if this happens, the oil-exporting countries will not allow Iran to close the Strait for a long time," Mr Jihad said.
He also noted that Iraq rules out the possibility of closing the Strait of Hormuz, as this will cause tremendous damage, both to exporters and importers of oil.
According to BP, Iraq's proven oil reserves as of early 2011 amounted to 115 billion barrels. The country ranks in third after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
According to BP, oil production in Iraq was 2.4 million barrels of oil per day in 2010, or 0.6 per cent more than in 2009.
Earlier an official representative from the Iraqi Oil Ministry told Trend that the country plans to produce more than 3.42 million barrels of oil per day in 2012. About 2-2.5 million barrels will be exported.