Federal Iraq’s crude oil export revenues over the first half of 2023 came in at $44.37bn, down sharply on the same period in 2022 when prices skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prices have dropped markedly since late 2022, and revenues for 2023 as a whole look set to come in well below last year’s record $115bn (MEES, 6 January).
Overall export volumes have also dropped modestly year-on-year, but the 11,000 b/d fall to 3.291mn b/d was a much less important factor than the $28.17/B reduction in realized oil prices from $102.72/B to $74.55/B. All exports since late-March have been seaborne cargoes from Iraq’s southern Basra terminals due to the continued shutdown of Kurdistan’s pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan export terminal, which typically carried up to 100,000 b/d of exports from federal oil marketer Somo in addition to around 400,000 b/d of independently-marketed ‘Kurdish’ crude. (CONTINUED - 825 WORDS)
