Basra oil hub stalls as Iran-Hormuz blockade slashes shipments and wages

The Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has halted the flow of Iraqi crude through Basra, the country's sole Gulf outlet, causing fuel trucks to sit idle and workers to endure severe pay cuts and layoffs. Maintenance worker Fawzi says his company first reduced wages, then cut staff, leaving him on duty only half the month. Production, once around four million barrels a day, has been forced down as storage filled, and exports fell to about 2.6 million barrels per day in September, according to Kpler, albeit at lower prices.

Iraq has tried to offset the loss with truck routes via Syria and a pipeline to Turkey, but these alternatives move only a small share of the volume. The shortfall has drained foreign-currency reserves by $20 billion, prompting the government to borrow internally and hope for a resolution before year-end. Meanwhile, the southern port of Umm Qasr sits nearly empty, with state port workers losing incentive pay and local merchants reporting halved sales.