After hitting an all time post-2003 high in oil exports at
the end of 2014, the country’s foreign petroleum sales have leveled off for the
last three months. Since December 2015 the country’s exports have remained
relatively stable, while prices and revenues have dropped.
In February
2016 Iraq exported an average of 3.225 million barrels a day. That was slightly
down from January’s 3.285 million. Bad weather was blamed for the dip, preventing
tankers from docking in the country’s southern ports. Overall, since December
the country has had at least 3.2 million barrels per month in foreign sales.
All of the exports came from southern oil fields, but there
was an anomaly. As Iraq
Oil Report pointed out the Oil Ministry said that 93.2 million barrels were
sent through the Basra ports out of a total of 93.536 million. It didn’t say
where the other 336,000 barrels came from.
The price for Iraqi oil was up slightly in February, but its
revenues were slightly down. In February a barrel of Iraqi crude went for $23,
up from $22.21 in January. That earned it $2.2 billion, just a bit below the
$2.26 billion it made the month before. Compared to 2015, Iraq is earning
around 45% less each month. This has put tremendous pressure upon Baghdad to
pay its bills which are at an estimated $4
billion a month, but the government has not proposed any serious reforms to
solve its problems. Even modest proposals
like reducing salaries and pensions for civil workers have been dropped due to
public outcry. Instead, the country is draining its Central Bank reserves,
and doing business as usual even though that is not sustainable.
Iraq
Oil Exports & Revenues 2015-16
|
Month
|
Avg.
Exports
|
Avg.
Price
Per
Barrel
|
Earnings
(Bil)
|
|
Jan
|
2.535
|
$41.45
|
$3.258
|
|
Feb
|
2.597
|
$47.43
|
$3.449
|
|
Mar
|
2.98
|
$48.24
|
$4.457
|
|
Apr
|
3.077
|
$51.70
|
$4.8
|
|
May
|
3.145
|
$55.87
|
$5.447
|
|
Jun
|
3.187
|
$55.32
|
$5.289
|
|
Jul
|
3.104
|
$50.99
|
$4.908
|
|
Aug
|
3.079
|
$40.59
|
$3.874
|
|
Sep
|
3.052
|
$40.32
|
$3.692
|
|
Oct
|
2.7
|
$39.56
|
$3.320
|
|
Nov
|
3.365
|
$36.42
|
$3.67
|
|
Dec
|
3.215
|
$29.84
|
$2.793
|
|
2015
Avg.
|
3.003
|
$44.81
|
$4.079
|
|
Jan
|
3.285
|
$22.21
|
$2.26
|
|
Feb
|
3.225
|
$23
|
$2.2
|
2015-16
Oil Exports From Basra
Jan 2.39 mil/bar/day
Feb 2.29 mil/bar/day
Mar 2.71 mil/bar/day
Apr 2.62 mil/bar/day
May 2.69 mil/bar/day
Jun 3.022 mil/bar/day
Jul 3.064 mil/bar/day
Aug 3.021 mil/bar/day
Sep 3.03 mil/bar/day
Oct 2.7 mil/bar/day
Nov 3.37 mil/bar/day
Dec 3.215 mil/bar/day
Jan 3.285 mil/bar/day
Feb 3.213 mil/bar/day
2015-16
Oil Exports By Kurds For Baghdad
Jan 153,000 bar/day
Feb 306,000 bar/day
Mar 268,000 bar/day
Apr 450,000 bar/day
May 451,000 bar/day
Jun 164,733 bar/day
Jul 41,000 bar/day
Aug 50,900 bar/day
Sep 21,500 bar/day
Oct 0.0
Nov 0.0
Dec 0.0
Jan 0.0
Feb 0.0
SOURCES
Lando, Ben and Osgood, Patrick, “Oil exports and revenues
see decline,” Iraq Oil Report, 3/2/16
Al Mada, “Abadi: oil revenues are not enough for the
salaries and retirement,” 10/28/15
Morris, Loveday, “Iraq is broke. Add that to its list of worries,”
Washington Post, 3/5/16
Osgood, Patrick and Tahir, Rawaz, “New rhetoric underscores
Erbil-Baghdad oil disputes,” Iraq Oil Report, 2/17/16
Reuters, “Iraq’s southern oil exports slip in February,”
3/1/16
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