Sunken Iraqi tanker to be removed within 18 months

摘要

London—Operations to remove a sunken Iraqi oil tanker which is holding up the construction of a new Single Point Mooring (SPM) platform at Iraq’s southern export terminal in the Persian Gulf is expected take 12-18 months, a company hired to provide salvage services said Thursday The VLLC Amuriyah was sunk near Bubiyan Island off the coast of Kuwait in January 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. The wreck, which is lying at an average depth of 33 meters near the Basrah terminal, is preventing Iraq from building another floating mooring that would enable Baghdad to further raise its southern crude oil export capacity.