Iraqi oil exports increase in first half of February

Amid speculation as to whether it would go along with members of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to decrease oil production, Iraq’s crude shipments for the first half of February increased by 3 per cent, according to port agent reports and ship tracking data. “Exports increased to 3.93 million barrels a day in the first 15 days of the month, 122,000 barrels a day more than the average for all of January,” Bloomberg news reported on Thursday.

However, on the same day, others cautioned against coming to “firm conclusions” for monthly compliance with the Opec agreement to decrease production.

“It is not possible to draw firm conclusions about production from a few weeks of export data, not least because the deal by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other independent producers applies to output, not exports,” Reuters news agency reported.

Reuters added that southern Iraqi exports decreased from 3.28 million bpd in January to 3.24 million bpd so far in February.

Most of Iraq’s oil is exported through southern terminals with the remaining exports sent through the northern pipeline to Ceyhan port in Turkey.

Opec, to which Iraq is a founding member, had pledged to reduce their oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in an attempt to decrease crude stockpiles and increase the price per barrel, which had dipped under $30 in January 2016 down from more than $105 less two years prior.

Prime Minister Haider al Abadi had indicated that Iraq would abide by the November 30 Opec agreement and decrease its output by 210,000 bpd. “The only thing that limits us now is the ceiling put in place by the Opec agreement to increase the oil price,” he said in January. “And thank God, the oil price has increased. We have now decreased oil production by a specific amount.”

While Baghdad had shown a desire to decrease output, the Kurdistan Region which currently has no oil deal in place with the Iraqi capital, has reiterated that it will not slow.

“The Kurdistan Region will continue its oil exports as before and has not decided to abide by the Opec accord to reduce the exportation of oil,” said Dilshad Shaaban, Deputy Head of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the Kurdistan Parliament, in December 2016.

Public-sector oil fields in Kirkuk were feeding into privately-run refineries in the Kurdistan Region, the Iraqi Oil Report published on Tuesday, adding that the cooperation could dramatically increase fuel supplies in areas of Nineveh Province recently rid of IS.