Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Iraq Saw 5 Month High In Oil Exports In May But Revenues Dipped


In May Iraq saw its highest oil exports in five months but because of a dip in prices its revenues were down.


Iraq exported an average of 3.3 million barrels a day in May 2023. That was the most since 3.332 million barrels in December 2022. That happened despite the loss of exports via Turkey which have been offline since Iraq won an arbitration case against Ankara for allowing Kurdistan to independently export its petroleum. Turkey retaliated by shutting down its pipeline to Iraq.

 

For the year Iraq has averaged 3.2 million barrels a day. That was down from an average of 3.3 million barrels in 2022. OPEC+ is trying to implement a new round of production quotas so Iraq’s exports might dip in coming months.

 

Profits dipped in May. Prices went from $79.04 per barrel in April, the highest price of the year, to $71.30, the lowest rate of 2023. That led revenues to go from $7.796 billion in April to $7.3 billion in May. This year Iraq has averaged $7.42 billion each month.

 

Iraq’s exports have largely been flat since October 2020. What changed was the Russian invasion of Ukraine which led to a surge in profits which has now ended. 2023’s revenues are back to what they were before the war. That’s not good as Iraq is in the process of passing the largest budget in its history which is almost completely funded by petroleum. It also has the largest deficit ever. Iraq needs to earn as much money as it can but there is no real growth right now.

 

Federal Oil Exports, Prices, Revenues 2020-2022

Month

Avg Export (Mil)

Avg Price

Earnings (Bil)

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 Avg

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

$6.553

Sep

3.081

$73.32

$6.777

Oct

3.12

$79.27

$7.666

Nov

3.272

$77.33

$7.611

Dec

3.277

$72.80

$7.391

2021 Avg

3.019

$68.33

$6.303

Jan 2022

3.203

$83.82

$8.323

Feb

3.314

$92.08

$8.544

Mar

3.244

$110.09

$10.913

Apr

3.38

$104.09

$10.554

May

3.3

$111.79

$11.44

Jun

3.373

$113.70

$11.505

Jul

3.303

$103.60

$10.608

Aug

3.286

$96.05

$9.784

Sep

3.292

$89.56

$8.845

Oct

3.382

$88.31

$9.258

Nov

3.329

$82.41

$8.23

Dec

3.332

$73.64

$7.709

2022 Avg

3.311

$95.76

$9.63

Jan

3.266

$75.69

$7.663

Feb

3.184

$76.75

$7.081

Mar

3.255

$73.43

$7.26

Apr

3.288

$79.04

$7.796

May

3.3

$71.30

$7.3

 

SOURCES

 

Kennedy, Charles, “Iraq’s Crude Oil Exports Stay Flat As Kurdistan Saga Continues,” Oil Price, 6/1/23

 

Xinhua, “Iraq exports over 100 mln barrels of crude oil in May,” 6/1/23

 

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