ConocoPhilips today became the first lifter to load Iraqi crude from the newly opened SPM (single point mooring) in the Mideast Gulf. The new loading facility is now officially open, offering up to 500,000 b/d of export capacity on top of the 1.8 million b/d available at Basrah Oil Terminal and Khor al-Amaya Terminal. That’s more than enough to absorb the idle production capacity currently available in southern Iraq. The…