Flow of Iraqi crude oil to US reaches 3-year peak in Nov

OPEC producer vies for market share as pressure mounts on shale

“In spite of strategic stock-building by China and India, Asia has become a congested market,” BNP Paribas analysts said in a recent report.

“Consequently, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members like Iraq, have recently stepped-up marketing efforts elsewhere to diversify their exports destinations.”

Oil exports via pipeline from northern Iraq to Turkey slipped to an average of 595,528 barrels per day (bpd) in October, the Kurdistan region’s ministry of natural resources said on Tuesday.

That represents a decrease of around 5,000 bpd from September.

Exports via the pipeline to Turkey have steadily increased this year, but since June the Kurds have cut allocations to Iraq’s state oil marketing firm SOMO to increase their own independent crude sales.

That has effectively nullified a deal reached late last year whereby the Kurds agreed to transfer an average of 550,000 bpd to SOMO in 2015, in exchange for the full reinstatement of budget payments from Baghdad.

Kurdistan transferred no crude to SOMO during the month, the statement said.