Oil prices rose Monday after the foiled weekend attempts to bomb Iraq’s key Basra crude export terminal revived fears of more attacks on the country’s oil infrastructure.
The Basra news added to the market bullishness fueled on persistent worries about a U.S. gasoline supply shortage, traders said.
Iraqi Oil Minister Mohammad Bahr al-Uloum said on Monday exports resumed on Sunday from the terminal in southern Iraq, which handles about 85 percent of the country’s daily exports of some 1.9 million barrels.
U.S. light crude ended at $36.91 a barrel, up 51 cents. London’s Brent crude settled 49 cents higher at $33.58 a barrel.
Suicide bombers in three boats blew themselves up on Saturday in and around the Basra terminal zone, one of the most heavily guarded facilities of its kind in the world.
“The damage was limited and exports are flowing back at the same rates,” Uloum said. Living quarters, several electrical generators and minor installations were damaged.
“Luckily there were no Iraqi casualties and the attackers did not manage to hit vital installations,” Uloum told Reuters.
The attacks, involving as many as four boats including one coordinating the operation, killed three U.S. Navy sailors and were the boldest yet against Iraq’s infrastructure since insurgents bent on disrupting U.S. plans for post-war Iraq started targeting oil installations nearly a year ago.
One tanker berth was slightly damaged but oil officials said things could have been far worse if any of the attacking boats had detonated close to a tanker during loading.
New security measures have been put in place to prevent similar attacks. Barricades and heavy U.S. Navy patrols already protect the terminal, which is in the British occupation zone.
Shippers expected war insurance rates to rise sharply after the attack, but officials said that improved security would prove that the attack was a one-off.
“Force protection has been beefed up. Obviously we cannot reveal details,” one Western official said.
The Basra terminal, previously known as Mina al-Bakr after Saddam Hussein’s Baathist predecessor as president, accounts for around 85 percent of Iraq’s 1.9 million barrels per day of exports.
A port official said on Monday one vessel was loading at the Basra terminal and another would load later in the day. Two other vessels were also waiting at the terminal.
An adjacent port, Khor al-Amaya, has been exporting a few hundred thousand barrels per day because capacity to pump oil from southern fields to the Gulf remains limited and international shippers question the terminal’s safety.
Khor al-Amaya closed as a precaution after the attacks but resumed operation on Sunday.
With technical problems plaguing the northern pipeline to Turkey, Iraq is almost completely dependent on the Basra terminal to provide revenue.