BAGHDAD, Feb 17 (Reuters)– Iraq intends to get a “large fleet” of oil vessels to carry the OPEC country’s crude to international markets, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi stated in a declaration on Friday.

The country’s vessel fleet was mainly damaged throughout the U.S.-led offensive to displace Iraq from Kuwait in 1991, according to the state-run Iraqi Oil Tankers Company’s web site. The business had as numerous as 24 vessels in the 1980s.

“The ministry is keen to restructure the company and develop its operations by building and buying a large fleet of tankers,” Luaibi informed the business’s administration, according to the declaration.

Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest manufacturer, afterSaudi Arabia (Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Adrian Croft)

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