BAGHDAD: Iraq’s southern oil exports rose slightly in January to an average of 3.285 million barrels per day (bpd), from 3.215 million bpd the previous month, the oil ministry said on Monday.
Production from southern fields averaged 3.9 million bpd, according to oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad, down from a record high the previous month. All of the exports were from Iraq’s southern ports, he said. For a fourth consecutive month, Baghdad exported no oil via its northern pipeline to Ceyhan in Turkey.
The self-ruled Kurdistan region in Iraq’s north has ramped up its own independent oil sales via Ceyhan since mid-June, while cutting allocations to Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) in an escalating dispute over export rights and budget payments.
January revenue totalled $2.26 billion, with 101.84 million barrels sold at $22.21 per barrel, down from $29.84 the previous month, Jihad said. Iraq, whose revenues depend almost entirely on oil sales, is struggling to cope with the plunge in global crude prices as it wages a battle against ISIS militants that control large swathes of territory in the north and west.
