Iraq intends to increase the number of its oil tankers during the next phase, in an effort to restore its maritime transport capabilities and enhance its exports, in parallel with broader movements to diversify crude sales routes and reduce the exposure of revenues to shipping fluctuations and disturbances in the Strait of Hormuz, and seek to reach an understanding with OPEC to increase its production share.
Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Salim Al-Rikabi told Al-Sabah newspaper that the ministry has developed a plan to strengthen the tanker fleet, indicating that work is underway to implement it, without revealing the number of ships targeted to be purchased or the cost and timetable for the plan.
A limited fleet owned by Iraq to transport crude
Iraq currently owns six tankers, according to Amer Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, a member of the Parliamentary Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee, including four small tankers designated for transporting oil derivatives with a capacity of 13,000 tons each, and two tankers with a capacity of 33,000 tons that can be used to transport crude. Ismail called for allocating funds to purchase giant tankers.
Iraq relies mainly on leasing tankers or the Oil Marketing Company “SOMO” concluding agreements with purchasing companies to undertake the transportation of crude to global markets, according to what the report quoted oil expert Asim Jihad.
The gap appears wide between Iraq’s naval capabilities and the fleets of other Gulf oil countries. The fleet of the Saudi “Bahri” company reached about 107 ships by the end of the first quarter of 2026, including up to 50 giant crude oil tankers, while the UAE’s “ADNOC Logistics and Services” operates more than 245 ships, and the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company owns a fleet of about 31 tankers, according to data reported by the specialized “energy” platform last April.
Alternative routes to the Strait of Hormuz
The fleet expansion plan comes within a broader Iraqi strategy to enhance the security of oil exports, after regional tensions revealed the dangers of heavy reliance on southern ports overlooking the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Baghdad is working in parallel to develop alternative land routes, including a pipeline from Basra to Kirkuk and then the Turkish port of Ceyhan, and another route extending from Haditha to the Syrian port of Baniyas on the Mediterranean Sea.
Iraq aims to raise its production capacity from its current level of about 4.8 million barrels per day to more than 7 million barrels, which increases the need to expand transportation and export capabilities.
Iraq calls on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase its production share in proportion to its large oil potential and to keep pace with its development and economic needs. Oil income constitutes 90% of government revenues, and more than 60% of the gross domestic product.
