OIL: Iraq Exporting 3mn bpd of Crude: Oil Minister

Iraq exported 70mn bbls of oil in August and is currently exporting 3mn bpd according to Oil Minister Basim Mohammed said in an interview with state TV on Tuesday. * The minister also said transporting crude by road from southern oilfields to a Kirkuk storage facility is expected to increase exports through Turkey's Ceyhan port to more than 600,000 bpd. * Iraq's Al Basra terminal appears to be loading at full capacity while a persistent queue of VLCC's can be seen waiting at the terminal, highlighting the facility looks set to maintain this strong pace. * On the Sep 23 Sentinel 1 pass, 3x VLCC and a smaller tanker can be seen loading at the Al Basra terminal. 6x VLCC can be seen queuing, waiting to load at the facility. (See image) Source: Sentinel 1, MNI annotations