Iraq's southern oil export flow stood at around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) today, steady from yesterday, shipping agents said.

The flow rate at the main southern Basra terminal has recovered after dipping to around 840,000 bpd for about 12 hours yesterday due to a power outage, one agent said.

Iraq ships about three quarters of its exports, or an average of around 1.5 million bpd, from Basra. The pumping rate at the port typically varies between 1.2 and 1.7 million bpd.

A bomb attack on a pipeline branch from the Bazargan oilfield on 27 March forced Iraq to shut in around 100,000 barrels per day of output. Exports were also affected, although Iraq has used oil in storage at both the fields and the terminal to minimise the impact on shipments.

The attack was the first to disrupt southern exports since 2004.

Iraq planned to restore the shut-in output yesterday. Officials were unavailable to comment today on whether the flow had restarted, Reuters reported.