* No final decision on extent of Basra terminal maintenance
* Ministry considering new plan to avoid impacting exports
* Market worries of 400,000-500,000 bpd export reduction
By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Iraq is still undecided whetherto carry out full maintenance on its Basra oil export terminals(BOT) in September, four oil officials said on Thursday,creating more uncertainty for an oil market already worriedabout Libyan outages and Egyptian unrest.
Investors as well as European refiners are closely eyeingthe maintenance at the major Iraqi terminal after plans emergedat the end of July that exports could be cut by 400,000-500,000barrels per day (bpd).
The physical oil market is already tight due to low exportsof Russian Urals, on-off disruptions of Iraq's other exportsthrough Turkey and outages in Libya.
The oil ministry is still trying to draw up a plan forcarrying out maintenance work without affecting exports fromBasra, one of the sources said.
"The ministry is now weighing options to carry out technicalrepairs and install a floating manifold metering system for theSingle Point Moorings and leave the work at the Basra terminalsfor now," the official said.
Iraq is concerned that potentially lower exports from theBOT would coincide with outages on the increasingly unreliableKirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline, which delivers Kirkuk crude to theMediterranean, one source added.
The pipeline is frequently bombed or shut due to leakages,and has been mostly down since June 21, though it resumed onWednesday.
"A final decision has not been made yet by the oil ministerto approve the maintenance operations from the Basra OilTerminal and discussions are still going on inside the oilministry to draw a plan to carry out maintenance work withoutaffecting exports," another senior official in Iraq said.
The potential reduction in September has been one of thefactors underpinning international oil prices, fuelling concernrefineries will be left empty handed. The unrest in Egypt andLibyan outages are now the primary issues pushing Brent oilfutures to a four-month high at $111 a barrel.
European refineries have been hit hard by high oil pricesand will cut runs by around 500,000 bpd.
Exports of Iraq's medium sour Basra Light are around 1.2million bpd, though the quick rise in these exports over thelast year could be slowed as the country faces the prospect ofits first annual drop in production.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week themaintenance could slash imports for months, not just inSeptember, stoking concerns of prolonged disruptions to worldoil supplies.
The crude comes largely from the Rumaila field, operated byBP in a joint venture with state-owned South Oil Co,producing around 1.4 million bpd.
"The oil ministry has not asked (Rumaila) yet to cut outputfor next month," a senior industry source said, adding the fieldwould only be able to reduce output by around 40,000 bpd withoutaffecting the processing of natural gas that comes with the oil.
BP (BP.)
