First Customer 'Tanks Up' at Iraqi Oil Terminal
Story Number: NNS030630-13
6/30/2003
From U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs
MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- U.S. and coalition naval vessels provided security June 30 for the first commercial oil tanker to receive Iraqi oil at the Mina Al Bakr offshore oil terminal. The terminal is located in the North Arabian Gulf, outside the Khor Abd Allah waterway.
The supertanker, Abqaiq, is the first offshore customer since 1991 to receive exported Iraqi oil outside of the United Nations' Oil-For-Food program. The vessel is scheduled to load an estimated 2 million barrels of crude oil from the platform, which is connected to Iraq via an underwater piping system.
USS Chosin (CG 59), an Aegis guided-missile cruiser, and other assets from the Multinational Interception Force (MIF), provided security around the perimeter of the Mina Al Bakr Oil Terminal.
The MIF, which consists of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard forces, and naval forces from Australia and Poland, will maintain a presence in the North Arabian Gulf to facilitate the normalization of shipping into and out of Iraq until an Iraqi coast guard can be established.
Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1483 and in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the MIF continues to conduct Maritime Interception Operations to prevent the illegal flow of weapons into and out of Iraq.
For more news from around the fleet, visit the Navy NewsStand at www.news.navy.mil.
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