"I can confirm it resumed yesterday," said Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Scott Sanders.

"It is for internal consumption only, not for exports," he said. "The amount of oil is not large and the port of Umm Qasr is not ready to handle exports.

The Wall Street Journal reported from Baghdad that US and Iraqi engineers had resumed production in four southern Iraqi wells and might relaunch output in the north this week.

The paper quoted Brigadier General Robert Crear as saying southern wells should soon be producing about 170,000 barrels a day to meet domestic demand from refineries and power plants.

Army engineers expected to increase output to 800,000 barrels a day from southern fields in six to nine weeks, he was quoted as saying.

SPACE.WIRE