Al Basrah Oil Terminal is an Iraqi oil port. It lies southeast of the Al Faw peninsula in the Persian Gulf. Al Basrah Oil Terminal is more commonly referred to as "ABOT" and it, along with its sister terminal, the Khor Al Amaya Oil Terminal or 'KAAOT", provides platforms from which a large majority of Iraq's oil can be exported.
It was called Al-Bakr Port before 2003, and the current name was adopted after 2003.
ABOT and KAAOT are major players in Iraq's eventual economic stability and therefore is widely considered one of the top terrorist targets in the world due to its importance. The terminals maintain strict security and are guarded by both the Iraqi Navy and Marines and U.S. Forces including personnel from the U.S. Navy's Maritime Expeditionary Security Force, which falls under the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command.
Units enforcing the exclusion zone around ABOT and KAAOT, Maritime interdiction operations, are conducted primarily by Patrol Forces Southwest Asia a component of the U.S. Coast Guard comprising Island class cutters and US Navy Patrol craft coastal. MESD 823 currently serves on board ABOT and provides security and security training to Iraqi Sailors and Marines.
The dilapidated and fragile nature of the terminal was featured in an NPR story on June 20, 2009[1].