22/09/2026
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22/09/2026
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RIYADH, Sept 22: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy has rejected claims made during an Iraqi parliament session that the Kingdom had purchased 25 oil tankers and that the purchases had contributed to higher transportation costs for Iraqi crude.
In a clarification, the ministry said Saudi Arabia had not purchased the 25 tankers referred to, describing the claim as incorrect. It stressed that the clarification does not affect the Kingdom’s full right to make commercial and investment decisions in accordance with its needs and interests.
The remarks were made in response to statements by Iraqi Oil Minister H.E. Basim Mohammed Khudair Al-Abbadi and Ali Nizar Al-Shatari, chairman and director general of Iraq’s State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO), during a session of the Iraqi Council of Representatives.
The Saudi ministry said the sharp increase in oil transportation costs was driven by factors other than those cited by the Iraqi officials.
It pointed to the military escalation in the region, publicly announced Iranian attacks on vessels, disruptions to navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, sharply higher shipping risks and insurance costs, and a decline in the number of tankers willing to operate in the region.
These conditions, the ministry said, have pushed regional shipping costs to exceptional levels.
It added that attributing the increase in the cost of transporting Iraqi oil to Saudi Arabia does not reflect the actual factors driving higher shipping costs.
