Khark Island, located 483 kilometers from the mouth of the Persian Gulf and about 25 kilometers off the coast of Iran, was the principal sea terminal until bombed by the Iraqis in 1985 and 1986; it had been the world's largest offshore crude oil terminal. Export of refined products then reverted to the terminal at Bandar-e Mashur in southwestern Iran, which had been used before the construction of the Khark Island installation.
The availability of new oil terminals allowed Iran to expand its oil production. In the 1960s, crude was sent to Abadan, then exported from Abadan and Bandar-e Mashur. The construction of the Khark Island terminal to export crude oil permitted use of Bandar-e Mashur exclusively for product exports. Some 95 percent of the crude oil came from the producing fields of Agha Jari, Karenj, Marun, Pariz, Bibi Hakimeh and Ahvaz.
During the 1980s, the Khark Island terminal continued to be responsible for 80 percent of oil exports. Khark Island had two terminals, one on a jetty and the other on a small island off the west coast of the island. The first was a complete complex, and the second was used for quick loading of ships. The jetty was bombed by Iraq to disrupt Iran's main shipping point in early 1985 and again more heavily in September 1985. Shipments were slowed at the jetty, and the island terminal section was devastated.
Aside from Bandar-e Mashur, other export facilities were developed both inside and outside the Persian Gulf. To reduce the threat from Iraq, facilities were expanded at the port of Jask, located just outside the Persian Gulf on the Gulf of Oman, and Sirri Island became an alternative loading point. A petroleum shuttle was initiated between Khark and Sirri islands, and Khark Island continued to export most of the country's oil until additional Iraqi bombing in January 1986. Reduced exports remained possible through the use of the shuttle service to Sirri Island, with its floating terminal for storage and reloading. The August 1986 bombing of shuttle tankers to Sirri and the resulting increase in insurance rates, however, prevented even this level of exports. Because the pipelines for Khark converge at a pumping station at Ganaveh (about forty kilometers northeast of Khark on the Gulf) before going underwater, Ganaveh replaced Khark as the western terminus of the oil shuttle to Sirri Island in the mid-1980s.
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Fox is rerunning the press conference with Olmert and Rice, for anyone who missed it.