Iraq’s Oil Marketer SOMO Denies Saudi Arabia Requested Crude

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Iraq’s State Organization for the Marketing of Oil (SOMO) denied on Thursday that Saudi Arabia had asked it for crude supplies for its domestic refineries, the Iraqi state news agency reported.

SOMO “categorically denies any request from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to supply it with crude,” the news agency cited its public relations head Haidar al-Kaabi as saying.

Two sources familiar with Aramco’s operations have also denied that the company will import crude oil from Iraq’s SOMO.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday that Saudi Arabia had asked for as much as 20 million barrels of crude.

S&P Global Platts reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources, that Saudi Arabia had approached Iraq’s SOMO to buy crude as it looks to fill a supply shortfall in the wake of the weekend attacks on its oil facilities.

A Saudi Arabian official said on Tuesday that Aramco will restore lost oil production by the end of September and has managed to bring supplies to customers back to the levels they were prior to the attacks by drawing on its oil inventories. 

 Courtesy: www.reuters.com