Iraq exports 3.49 million b/d of central and southern oil in January

28 February 2018
Total exports for the month amounted to 108.19 million barrels, fetching oil revenues of $6.77bn for Baghdad

Iraq’s Oil Ministry has announced it has exported 108.19 million barrels of oil in January 2018, or 3.49 million barrels a-day (b/d), quoting figures obtained from the state oil marketing company SOMO.

The oil exported was produced from the assets in the country’s central and southern regions, and does not take into account crude output from the oil-rich north that includes Kirkuk and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Based on an average oil price of $62 a-barrel in January, the Oil Ministry said it earned revenues worth $6.77bn from crude exports during the month.

The ministry added that the oil cargoes were shipped by 31 “multinational companies” from the southern ports of Basra, Khor al-Omaia and the Single Point Moorings (SPM) on the Gulf waters.

Iraq has been maintaining robust exports from its southern region, and shipped 3.53 million b/d of southern oil in December 2017, especially as Baghdad seeks to compensate for the loss of control of oil output from Kirkuk and the wider northern zone in its struggle with Kurdish forces.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (Opec) second biggest oil producer (after Saudi Arabia) has a production capacity of 5 million b/d, but is currently producing 4.7 million b/d due to the country’s commitment to the Opec/non-Opec agreement to reduce output, Iraq’s Oil Minister Jabbar al-Luiebi has recently claimed.

Iraq intends to raise its production to 7 million b/d by 2022, the minister has said.

A MEED Subscription...

Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region’s best source of business information. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package.