Satellite Images Show Seven Tankers Loading Iraqi Crude at Once

Seven crude carriers were moored at Iraq’s Persian Gulf export facilities on August 24—a sharp increase from recent weeks. The carriers had a combined carrying capacity of roughly 13 million barrels, according to satellite imagery analyzed by Bloomberg.

TankerTrackers.com separately said it counted and identified 13 million barrels loading Monday at Iraq’s Al Basrah Oil Terminal.

That is a dramatic departure from the past several weeks, when satellite passes typically showed just one or two tankers at Iraq’s offshore export facilities on any given day.

Before the Iran war, six tankers occupying the terminal’s eight berths at once was normal.

Monday’s activity does not mean Iraqi exports have returned to pre-war levels. It is a one-day snapshot, and every one of those barrels still has to make it through the Strait of Hormuz.

Regional oil flows have stayed well below pre-war norms even as more Gulf producers experiment with covert transits, ship-to-ship transfers and alternative export routes.

Iran’s own crude exports have been particularly hard hit. August loadings are running around 300,000 barrels per day (bpd), compared with a 2025 average of roughly 1.7 million bpd, while floating Iranian storage outside the Gulf has fallen to about 24 million barrels.

Iraq has had considerably more success keeping barrels moving.

The country said earlier this month that it was exporting around 2 million bpd despite the Hormuz disruption, and Chinese refiners have been snapping up Iraqi Basrah Medium and Basrah Heavy as supplies from elsewhere in the Gulf tighten.

Seven tankers loading at once does not prove the Gulf oil crisis is easing. But after weeks of sparse activity at Basra, it is at least evidence that Iraq is managing to push more crude toward the exit.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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