Iraq saw across the board growth in its oil exports in May 2018. The average oil flow, prices, and revenues were all up for the month. The Oil Ministry also signed contracts with several companies after its latest auction, and oil exports from Kirkuk to Iran finally began.
Iraq’s average oil exports rose
from 3.34 million barrels a day in April to 3.49 million barrels a day in May.
That was due to an increase in the number of tankers that docked at the ports
in Basra. Prices
rose as well with a barrel of Iraqi crude going from $64.60 per barrel to
$69.93. That was the high rate since November 2014. As a result, Iraq earned
$7.566 billion, the most since it made $7.8 billion in July 2014. Iraq has
averaged 3.4 million barrels a day in 2018, up from 2017’s mark of 3.3 million.
Oil prices have also steadily rose from around $40 per barrel at the start of
2017 to over $60 for all but one month of this year.
This is good news for Baghdad that has been running a budget
deficit since the oil market collapsed in 2014, and had the added costs of
fighting the war against the Islamic State. The 2018 budget called for
3.8 million barrels a day in petroleum exports at $46 per barrel. While that
export figure is unlikely to be met anytime soon, the increased prices will
mean that Iraq will probably have a surplus this year.
Kirkuk’s oil production is climbing back up, and a plan to
find a new outlet for it has finally started. In November 2017 Iraq and Iran
made a preliminary deal to truck 30,000-60,000 barrels a day of petroleum from
Kirkuk to a refinery in western Iran. That deal was formalized in December,
but then poor
security along the route delayed it. At the start of June, Iran’s Oil
Ministry confirmed
that the first tankers arrived. Currently Kirkuk’s oil is being sent to power
plants in Kirkuk and Kurdistan, but it needs more consumers. After the federal
authorities took back the province and ended Kurdish administration, its crude
is no longer flowing to Turkey via the Kurds’ pipeline. The amount of oil being
sent to Iran is a small amount, but it will help in the short term.
Finally, the Oil Ministry signed
three contracts
that came from its latest oil and gas auction. Crescent Petroleum will develop
two blocks in Diyala and one in Basra, Geo-Jade won rights to a field in Diyala
and one in Maysan, while United Energy Group won a license for al-Sindibad in
Basra. This is all part of the plan to boost production to 5 million barrels a
day.
Federal Oil Exports, Prices, Revenues 2014-2018
Month
|
Avg Export
(Mil)
|
Avg Price
|
Earnings
(Bil)
|
Jan 2014
|
2.228
|
$102.37
|
$7.073
|
Feb
|
2.799
|
$102.05
|
$7.9
|
Mar
|
2.396
|
$101.03
|
$7.507
|
Apr
|
2.51
|
$100.69
|
$7.582
|
May
|
2.58
|
$100.69
|
$8.077
|
Jun
|
2.423
|
$102.96
|
$7.47
|
Jul
|
2.442
|
$102.27
|
$7.8
|
Aug
|
2.375
|
$97.44
|
$7.172
|
Sep
|
2.542
|
$90.76
|
$7
|
Oct
|
2.461
|
$81.12
|
$6.19
|
Nov
|
2.51
|
$70.40
|
$5.238
|
Dec
|
2.94
|
$57
|
$5.195
|
2014 Totals
|
2.517
|
$92.39
|
$7.017
|
Jan 2015
|
2.535
|
$41.45
|
$3.258
|
Feb
|
2.597
|
$47.43
|
$3.449
|
Mar
|
2.980
|
$48.24
|
$3.449
|
Apr
|
3.077
|
$51.70
|
$4.8
|
May
|
3.145
|
$55.87
|
$5.447
|
Jun
|
3.187
|
$55.32
|
$5.289
|
Jul
|
3.105
|
$50.99
|
$4.908
|
Aug
|
3.079
|
$40.59
|
$3.925
|
Sep
|
3.052
|
$40.32
|
$3.725
|
Oct
|
2.703
|
$39.56
|
$3.29
|
Nov
|
3.363
|
$36.42
|
$3.66
|
Dec
|
3.216
|
$29.84
|
$2.92
|
2015 Totals
|
3.003
|
$44.81
|
$4.094
|
Jan 2016
|
3.285
|
$22.21
|
$2.262
|
Feb
|
3.224
|
$23
|
$2.249
|
Mar
|
3.287
|
$28.40
|
$2.894
|
Apr
|
3.363
|
$33.38
|
$3.368
|
May
|
3.2
|
$37.78
|
$3.748
|
Jun
|
3.175
|
$40.36
|
$3.845
|
Jul
|
3.203
|
$38.28
|
$3.802
|
Aug
|
3.229
|
$29.24
|
$3.928
|
Sep
|
3.276
|
$38.89
|
$3.822
|
Oct
|
3.384
|
-
|
$4.426
|
Nov
|
3.47
|
$40
|
$4.216
|
Dec
|
3.52
|
-
|
$5.074
|
2016 Totals
|
3.302
|
-
|
$3.625
|
Jan 2017
|
3.321
|
-
|
$5.002
|
Feb
|
3.270
|
-
|
$4.514
|
Mar
|
3.258
|
$47.18
|
$4.766
|
Apr
|
3.253
|
$47.27
|
$4.607
|
May
|
3.261
|
$47
|
$4.623
|
Jun
|
3.273
|
$42.07
|
$4.144
|
Jul
|
3.230
|
$43.80
|
$4.386
|
Aug
|
3.216
|
-
|
$4.608
|
Sep
|
3.24
|
-
|
$4.882
|
Oct
|
3.346
|
$52.59
|
$5.456
|
Nov
|
3.502
|
$59.19
|
$6.021
|
Dec
|
3.535
|
$59.35
|
$6.504
|
2017 Totals
|
3.309
|
-
|
$4.959
|
Jan 2018
|
3.49
|
$63.29
|
$6.847
|
Feb
|
3.426
|
$60.14
|
$5.77
|
Mar
|
3.453
|
$59.95
|
$6.418
|
Apr
|
3.34
|
$64.60
|
$6.474
|
May
|
3.49
|
$69.93
|
$7.566
|
SOURCES
Lando, Ben, “Nationwide exports and revenues increase in
May,” Iraq Oil report, 6/4/18
Al Masalah, “Oil exports rise in May,” 6/1/18
Al-Mawlawi, Ali,
“Iraq’s 2018 Federal Budget: Key features and trends,” Al-Bayan Center, 3/17/18
New Sabah, “Al Luaibi announces the export of Kirkuk oil to Iran,”
11/10/17
Reuters, “Iraq
and Iran sign Kirkuk oil swap deal,” 12/9/17
- “Iraq to sign development contracts for six blocs: oil
ministry,” 6/3/18
- “Plan to truck oil
from Iraq’s Kirkuk to Iran delayed by security concerns,” 2/26/18
Trend, “Iran starts oil swap with Iraq’s Kirkuk,” 6/3/18
Xinhua, “Iraq, UAE join hands to develop 3 oil, gas blocks,”
6/4/18
No comments:
Post a Comment