Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) has firmly denied allegations of oil smuggling through the country's southern ports, following the release of a leaked document that raised concerns about the company's potential involvement in circumventing US sanctions on Iranian oil.
Alaa Al-Nizar Fayak, Director-General of SOMO, said that Iraqi ports are "under strict supervision and managed with advanced mechanisms," rejecting claims of illicit oil activity or tampering.
"The leaked document in circulation is genuine, but it is a routine procedure aimed at regulating the loading schedules of oil tankers," Fayak said during his participation in a programme aired on : مدير شركة سومو يوضح تفاصيل الوثيقة الأخيرة المسربة pic.twitter.com/hDyM1Ano1t
— شبكة الإعلام العراقي (@iraqmedianet) August 4, 2025 ">Al-Iraqiya News state television channel. "Iraqi ports are robust and managed with high coordination between security and operational authorities."The statement comes in response to a leaked official document issued by SOMO and dated 28 July. In the document, the company alerted Iraq's National Security Service to suspected smuggling operations. The letter, marked "very urgent," referred to suspicious tanker activity off the coast, particularly around the ports of Umm Qasr and Khor Al-Zubair, and warned of vessels conducting unauthorised transfers within Iraqi territorial waters.
According to the document, data from global tracking platforms—including Kpler, Platts/Sea Web, and Vortexa—indicated that multiple tankers may have engaged in "camouflaged and unauthorised" loading of petroleum products.
The letter cited advanced evasion tactics such as Automatic Identification System (AIS) spoofing and delayed cargo disclosures, tactics commonly used in "dark ship-to-ship transfers".
"These activities fall within the high-risk category," SOMO said in the document, noting that none of the identified tankers appeared in Iraq’s official export schedules. The company urged security services to investigate and "take appropriate actions".
Fayak also stated that the four tankers mentioned in the document were monitored and may have been carrying industrial materials for Iraqi ministries, unrelated to oil.
"There is no current or future dealing with companies or entities under sanctions, and measures are taken to expel any suspicious tanker from Iraqi territorial waters," he asserted.
However, Ali Al-Mashkur, an Iraqi lawmaker and member of the parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, told Iraq 24 television that he is concerned SOMO or the Central Bank of Iraq could be targeted by US sanctions if formally accused of helping Tehran evade restrictions.
Iraq has come under growing international scrutiny amid US accusations that Iranian oil is being covertly exported through Iraqi channels.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the Arabic-language sister site of The New Arab, last month reported from three Iraqi sources that Washington is considering imposing sanctions on SOMO over concerns that Iran is using Iraq's export infrastructure to bypass restrictions.
"The United States Navy recently found Iraqi shipping documents on Iranian tankers seized in the Gulf, suggesting an effort to disguise Iranian oil as Iraqi crude," one Iraqi official said.
In response, Baghdad is reportedly working to avoid any punitive measures that could target SOMO or individuals within the organisation.
"Iraq is moving quickly to prevent any US sanctions targeting the oil corporation or its individuals," an Iraqi government adviser told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. "Any measures taken against the country’s oil sector would cause a big and real crisis."
Iraq was the second-largest oil exporter in OPEC in 2024 and ranked seventh globally, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Oil exports accounted for nearly 90 per cent of government revenues last year, making the sector critical to Iraq’s financial stability.
Addressing broader operations, Fayak stated that Iraq currently exports between 3.35 and 3.4 million barrels of oil per day, with 78 percent to 80 percent directed to Asian markets, and the rest split between Europe and the US. He also confirmed that SOMO enforces strict buyer criteria, requiring purchasers to possess their refineries and prohibiting the resale of Iraqi oil.
Regarding exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, Fayak noted that the region has not yet delivered any quantities of its oil, adding that SOMO had finalised all technical and contractual procedures to facilitate exports through Turkey's Ceyhan port, pending Kurdish cooperation.
Last month, the Iraqi government and the KRG signed an agreement in which the KRG committed to submit 230,000 barrels of oil per day to SOMO, plus 192 billion Iraqi dinars from the region's local income to Baghdad in exchange for monthly payments to the KRG's public sector workers. But this week, the KRG minister of interior said the terms of the agreement are very hard for the KRG, and they cannot fulfil it.
Thus, the KRG employees are desperately waiting to receive their June and July salaries, while the Iraqi government will start distributing August salaries to pensioners and the public sector employees.