Iraq’s August Oil Exports Highest Since Start of Conflict | Ratopati

KATHMANDU. Iraq’s average daily oil exports in the first 10 days of August have been the highest since the start of the war, amid tensions in the Middle East caused by the joint US-Israel war on Iran and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the Iraqi Ministry of Petroleum (Oil) said on Friday.

Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Mohammed Khudeir said at a press conference on Friday, “Exports have reached 2 million barrels per day since the beginning of the month. This means a total of 26 million barrels of fuel have been exported in August.”

He said, “This daily rate is the highest achieved ‘since the start of the crisis’. The crisis began after Iran responded to the US-Israeli attack on February 28 by closing the vital waterway for global oil and gas trade.”

Before the war, Iraq used to produce about 4 million barrels per day and export an average of 1.05 million barrels per month, most of which went out through the Basra oil terminal via Hormuz.

Ali Nijar, head of Iraq’s Oil Marketing Company (SOMO), said in an interview with national television last week, “Iraq exported ‘355,000 to 370,000 barrels’ through Hormuz in July.”

Another 7 million barrels were exported through the pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

According to SOMO’s data, Iraq exported more than 32 million barrels of crude oil through various routes in May and June, of which more than 20 million barrels were exported from the southern port.

Iraq, a founding member of OPEC, was forced to stop production at most refineries during the war due to full storage.

Due to the blockage of the waterway, it started exporting crude oil via tankers through Syria and via the pipeline to Turkey.