Iraq Says It Has US Understanding to Ship Oil Through Hormuz via Lane Near Oman

Hussein said the Iran war and disruption to oil shipments had cost Iraq $60 billion. Iraq relies on crude sales through the Gulf for most of its revenue, so a dependable route out of the strait matters to its budget and to buyers in Asia and elsewhere. Hussein did not give details of how the arrangement would work or how long it would last.

Iraqi exports had already started to recover. Iraqi energy officials say they rose to about 3.5 million barrels per day in October, from 2.65 million barrels per day in September.

In the same interview, Hussein said the US Treasury had asked Baghdad to close all its border crossings with Iran except two, one of them in the Kurdistan region, as part of Washington's economic pressure on Tehran. "There are many official and unofficial border crossings with Iran, and closing all of them would be difficult and would affect our economy," he said. "The Americans are still demanding the closure of the crossings, and we are currently in discussions with them." Last month Iraq closed the busy Sheeb crossing with Iran to review security and install equipment to detect smuggling.

Iraq's energy sector took another hit late on Sunday, when an attack on the Khor Mor gas field in Kurdistan cut about 2.8 gigawatts of power generation in the region, according to the Kurdish electricity ministry. Dana Gas, the Sharjah-based joint operator, told the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on Monday that production remained suspended and that the fire caused by the attack had been put out with no injuries. Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi ordered a joint investigation with the Kurdish authorities.

Hussein did not say whether the shipping understanding depends on Iraq meeting the US request on border crossings. Talks on the crossings are continuing.