The Iraqi government has authorized the Ministry of Oil to sign an initial agreement with Boskalis, a Dutch maritime services company, to build an offshore oil export installation, Reuters reported.

This deal comes in line with Iraq’s government efforts to diversify export routes, according to Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

It should be mentioned that Shuaiba, one of Iraq’s largest oil refineries, witnessed a small fire on July 11. However, the accident did not affect operations, as it was put out within 30 minutes of breaking out.

Officials explained that the fire was due to leakage from one of the pipelines which led to a small pool of crude oil waste, according to Al-Arabiya.

Shuaiba refines more than 200,000 barrels per day of crude oil and is Located near the Iraqi southern city of Basra.