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Subject: Kharg Island - 90% of Iranian Oil
Softwar    4/2/2007 12:55:25 PM
"http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-237/0611041308175318.htm" Iran exports over 90 pc of its crude oil via Kharg Island Tehran, Nov 4, IRNA Iran-Oil-Export Head of the eastern platform of Kharg Oil Terminal, Seyed Ibrahim Hosseini, said on Saturday that more than 90 percent of Iran's crude oil is exported via Kharg Island in the northern border of the Persian Gulf. He told IRNA that due to the geographical position of Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, Iran's crude oil is carried to destination without pumping it into oil carriers' tanks. "The eastern platform of Kharg situated 1,100 meters from the island's coast is around 1,840 meters long and 40 meters wide. "Its western platform located 1,455 meters from the island's coast allows three vessels -- weighing 200,000-500,000 tons -- to berth at it," he added. He noted that at present, crude oil is transferred from oil fields in Gachsaran and Ahvaz (Omidieh) into the oil tanks of the terminal, which are pumped into oil tankers. For his part, the Control Engineer of Kharg Island oil facilities Amin Lotfi said that 200,000 barrels of crude oil are refined and prepared daily for export. "The extracted crude oil is heated up to 260-270 degrees to get rid of its non-useful gas content, which is required by world standards to make it qualified for export. "Once the primary refinement of crude oil is completed and its gas, salt and water contents are separated, it is transferred to the island's oil tanks to be carried to oil tankers via the two platforms," he concluded.
 
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xylene       4/2/2007 2:24:40 PM
Several key weakspots can be gleamed from this article.
 
1) Oil must be sent to Kharg Island from mailand, most likely underwater pipeline.
 
2) if oil is being pre-processed to meet certain specifications, it is not difficult to determine where it is going, since refineries are set up to run certain types of crudes.
 
3) Tankers can only dock at the large platforms since water depth is probably to shallow closer to the island.
 
4) Oil must be pumped from Kharg Island to the platforms, involving another set of underwater pipes. May also have capability to divert oil from mainland to platform. KEY point if true.
 
5) pumping stations are key
 
So we have several options, take out the pipes or pumping stations and the oil can't flow, take out the platform and the ship's can't dock, take out the processing plant on mainland and the oil is unsellable.
 
Best option, contaminate the crude while tanks are full at Kharg Island or sabotage processing lab analysis. No space to pump back to mainland, can't ship it out either because of commercial specs. Not a shot fired and Kharg Island is effectively shut down.
 
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Softwar       4/2/2007 4:00:26 PM
Gee - and with an embargo on spare parts - it might be months before Iran can pump again.  Thus - hitting the Mullahs in the spot most vulnerable - their checking accounts.
 
Of course, quick resolution of the issues at hand - 15 hostages and that pesky nuke program - could lead to a restart of the flow of that black gold.
 
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