Iraq's oil export revenues hit 50-year high
Iraqi oil export revenues hit an all-time high amid rising global energy prices.
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Tankers loading crude oil at Iraq's Al-Basra Offshore Terminal (AP)
Iraq's oil export revenues have reached a 50-year high according to Baghdad's Oil Ministry estimates.
According to the estimates, Iraq exported $11 billion worth of crude oil in March, meaning sales exceeding 100 million barrels.
"Cumulative exports of crude oil in March rose to 100,563,999 barrels, with revenues hitting $11.07 billion, the highest total since 1972," the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Iraq, an OPEC member state, exported 3.2 million barrels of crude oil a day at a price that averaged $110 per barrel in March. In February, it exported 3.3 million barrels a day, earning it what was then an eight-year high of $8.5 billion. In August 2021, it exported more than 90 million barrels of oil, earning it a total revenue of $6.5 billion at $72 per barrel.
Baghdad signed contracts with foreign oil companies in August to drill 131 new oil wells as part of Iraq's future plan to expand crude oil production capacities to 8 million barrels per day by the end of 2027.
The Director-General of the Iraqi Drilling Company at the Ministry of Oil, Bassem Abdul Karim, said Iraq has signed contracts with foreign oil licensing companies to drill 131 new oil wells and reclaim scores of wells currently operating in the Kirkuk, Baghdad, Basra, Maysan, and Nasiriyah oil fields.
