Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Iraq’s Oil Exports Rise For 5th Month But Prices Drop


Iraq’s oil production and exports have steadily risen since the summer due to loosening quotas by OPEC+. That has coincided with a boom in the energy market.

 

In November Iraq exported an average of 3.272 million barrels a day of oil. In June it sold 2.892 million barrels and has gone up every month since then. That has coincided with a loosening of OPEC+ production quotas. In October Iraq’s quota was 4.149 million barrels a day which rose to 4.193 million in November.

 

Prices for Iraq’s oil have also recovered after collapsing with the energy market in the spring of 2020. In November a barrel of Iraqi crude sold for $77.33 which earned it $7.59 billion. That was actually down from October’s figures of $79.27 per barrel and $7.66 billion. Still, that is a big jump from last year when the country was only earning an average of $3.4 billion.

 

This is good news for Iraq which is the most oil dependent country in the world. On the other hand, this means that talk of economic reform which started in 2020 is now dead. When petroleum prices are up the Iraqi elite go back to business as usual expanding the state and spending only to run into deficits when the energy market takes a downturn as it always does.

 

Federal Oil Exports, Prices, Revenues 2019-2021

Month

Avg Export (Mil)

Avg Price

Earnings (Bil)

Jan 2019

3.649

$56.15

$6.367

Feb

3.621

$60.83

$6.179

Mar

3.377

$63.80

$6.709

Apr

3.466

$67.41

$7.021

May

3.572

$66.68

$7.329

Jun

3.52

$60.58

$6.372

Jul

3.566

$61.15

$6.692

Aug

3.603

$57.41

$6.413

Sep

3.576

$59.14

$6.321

Oct

3.447

$57.15

$6.121

Nov

3.5

$59.82

$6.305

Dec

3.428

$63.05

$6.698

2019 Avgs

3.527

$61.09

$6.543

Jan 2020

3.306

$60.14

$6.163

Feb

3.391

$51.37

$5.053

Mar

3.391

$32.73

$2.962

Apr

3.438

$13.80

$1.51

May

3.212

$21.00

$2.136

Jun

2.816

$33.86

$2.871

Jul

2.763

$40.70

$3.492

Aug

2.597

$43.69

$3.492

Sep

2.613

$40.40

$3.173

Oct

2.876

$38.48

$3.457

Nov

2.709

$41.77

$3.404

Dec

2.846

$47.76

$4.235

2020 Avgs

2.996

$38.80

$3.493

Jan 2021

2.868

$53.29

$4.765

Feb

2.96

$60.33

$5.013

Mar

2.946

$63.32

$5.787

Apr

2.947

$62.77

$5.549

May

2.899

$65.84

$5.917

Jun

2.892

$70.77

$6.143

Jul

2.918

$72.00

$6.476

Aug

3.054

$69.01

$6.533

Sep

3.081

$73.32

$6.77

Oct

3.12

$79.27

$7.666

Nov

3.272

$77.33

$7.59

2021 Avgs

2.996

$67.93

$6.2

 

SOURCES

 

Dourian, Kate, “Iraqi exports rise as OPEC continues quota increase,” Iraq Oil Report, 12/3/21

 

Saadi, Dania, “IRAQ DATA: Federal oil exports rise 5% in Nov amid higher OPEC+ quota,” S&P, 12/1/21

 

Xinhua, “Iraq’s crude exports exceed 98 mln barrels in November: ministry,” 12/1/21

 

 

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