Iraq offers May-loading crude at deep discounts for loading inside Hormuz

Iraq has offered term buyers May-loading Basrah crude at steep discounts for loading inside the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely blocked since the Iran conflict began. 

The OPEC producer is offering its flagship Basrah Medium crude at discounts of US$33.40 (HK$260.52), or US$26 a barrel to its May official selling price, for loading on May 1 to May 10 or May 11 to May 31, respectively, according to a May 3 notice from state oil marketer SOMO seen by Reuters. 

It also offered May-loading Basrah Heavy crude at a discount of US$30 per barrel to the May OSP, the document showed.

The cargoes are sold on a free-on-board basis at the Basrah Oil Terminal or Single Point Moorings, both located inside the Strait of Hormuz. The OSP is determined on the final destination of the cargoes, it said. SOMO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The discounts underscore mounting pressure on Iraqi crude exports as shipping risks persist in the waterway, a critical artery for global oil flows. 

Iraqi crude exports, which averaged 3.33 million barrels per day in 2025, are mostly shipped to Asia, Kpler data showed. 

In April, only two vessels loaded at Iraq's Basrah port, one of them has passed the Strait of Hormuz while the other one has not been out, according to Kpler.

Reuters

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