Iraq Sees Another Record High In Oil Exports And Profits In May 2011

Tankers at Basra's oil terminal (Gulf News

Iraq saw record output and profits from its oil industry in May 2011. Last month, Iraq exported an average of 2.22 million barrels a day. That was the highest amount since the 2003 invasion. For all five months of this year the country has been selling more than two million barrels, another post-Saddam record. That’s thanks to the work of international oil firms that won contracts in two bidding rounds in 2009. Those high numbers meant Iraq earned $7.4 billion in May, the most in a single month since the fall of Saddam Hussein. In April, Iraq brought in $7.342 billion, $7.167 billion in March, and over $6 billion in February and January. Before that, Iraq was only averaging around $4 billion a month.

Those profits came despite a decline in international oil prices. In May, Iraqi crude sold for $108 per barrel, down from $114.26 in April. That mirrored drops overall for petroleum. After hitting a high in early May, world prices have fallen to around $100 per barrel since then.

Any larger increases are unlikely however. Iraq’s infrastructure has reached its limit, and cannot handle much more. The Oil Ministry has plans to renovate existing facilities, and build new pipelines, ports, etc., but those projects are a year or more away. Until then, exports are likely to stay just over 2 million barrels a day, with fluctuations caused by maintenance, poor weather in Basra, which affects ships docking, and attacks upon the northern pipeline to Turkey by insurgents. That amount along with high petroleum prices will keep the money flowing, but at a pretty steady rate with no sizeable increases until the infrastructure can catch up to Iraq’s potential.

Iraq Oil Production And Profits Jan. 2010-May 2011

Month	Total Production (Mil/Bar)	Avg. Exports (Mil/ Bar/ Day)	Avg. Price Per Barrel	Revenue (Mil)
Jan. 10	59.7	1.92	$73.97	$4.441
Feb.	57.9	2.05	$73.04	$4.229
Mar.	57.1	1.84	$76.20	$4.351
Apr.	53.0	1.80	$79.66	$4.222
May	58.7	1.88	$73.85	$4.335
Jun.	54.7	1.86	$71.10	$3.889
Jul.	56.3	1.82	$71.21	$4.009
Aug.	55.4	1.82	$71.43	$3.957
Sep.	60.6	2.02	$73.07	$4.428
Oct.	58.7	1.91	$77.10	$4.526
Nov.	57.3	1.92	$80.59	$4.618
Dec.	60.5	1.95	$86.31	$5.222
Jan. 11	67.0	2.16	$90.78	$6.082
Feb.	61	2.20	$98.44	$6+
Mar.	66.9	2.15	$107.13	$7.167
Apr.	64.2	2.14	$114.26	$7.342
May	N/A	2.22	$108	$7.4

SOURCES

Aswat al-Iraq, “Iraq’s April oil exports down due to bad weather,” 5/30/11

Bloomberg, “Iraq Exports Hit 2.23 Million bpd in May,” Iraq Business News, 6/1/11

Hafidh, Hassan, “Iraq’s Oil Exports Continue to Climb,” Wall Street Journal, 6/1/11

Kahn, Chris, “Oil stocks rise, oil prices fall,” Associated Press, 6/1/11