Iraq’s crude oil exports rose to 2.317 million bpd in March, up from 2.014 million bpd in February, thanks largely to he new offshore single-point mooring terminal, the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) said on Sunday.

According to Reuters, this was the highest level of exports since 2003, while Bloomberg quotes Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad as saying it was the highest since 1980, a year after Saddam Hussein came to power.

The 71.827 million barrels exported generated $8.475 billion in revenue, at an average price of $118 a barrel. 59.427 million barrels, or 1.917 million bpd, were sent by sea and 12.42 million barrels, or 400,000 bpd, went from the northern oil hub of Kirkuk through a pipeline to Turkey.

The increased exports came even as the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reduced quantities, sabotage attacks targeted the northern export pipeline, and bad weather slowed tanker shipments in the south.

“We expect export levels to increase further this month,” SOMO boss Falah al-Amri told Bloomberg.

(Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg)

The ongoing dispute between Iraq’s central government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reached new heights on Monday as Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, Hussain al-Shahristani (pictured), accused the northern region of smuggling rather than meeting its export obligations.

According to Reuters, Shahristani told reporters:

“Most of the crude produced in the region is being smuggled through borders and mainly to Iran … We have discussed with Iran and Turkey about controlling joint borders to stop smuggling crude.“

The KRG decided on Sunday to halt oil exports from the region, which had previously been running at around 100,000 bpd, accusing the central government in Baghdad of failing to make payments to companies working in Kurdistan.

“Oil exports will not start again unless there is an agreement on the payment policy,” Kurdish Energy Minister Ashti Hawrami told Reuters on Monday.

(Sources: Reuters, Wall Street Journal)

Following Sunday’s statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government stopping oil exports from the region, Norway’s DNO International has issued the following statement:

As of 1 April 2012, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has instructed DNO International ASA to halt delivery of that portion of crude oil produced from the Tawke oil field that was destined for the Iraqi national pipeline system for eventual export through Turkey.

All other Tawke crude oil and refined product deliveries and field operations remains unaffected. All exploration and development operations on wells Peshkabir-1, Tawke-14, Tawke-15 and Tawke-1A, continue as before and as per plan.

(Source: DNO)

The export of oil from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been stopped from today because the federal government in Baghdad has not honoured its payment commitments, Kurdistan’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) said on Sunday.

“After consultation with the producing companies, the Ministry has reluctantly decided to halt exports until further notice. There have been no payments for 10 months, nor any indication from federal authorities that payments are forthcoming,” the MNR said.

It added, “We hope that this is a temporary measure and that those in the federal government responsible for non-payment will quickly realise that their failure to adhere to their agreements is not in the interests of the Iraqi people.” No payment has been received since May 2011.

“Once this unfortunate non-payment situation has been satisfactorily resolved we will do our utmost to increase exports above the target of 175,000 barrels per day included in the 2012 Iraq budget,” the Ministry said. “From now on, production will be diverted to the local market for processing and refining to generate an alternative source of cash flow for the producing companies.”

(Source: KRG)

According to a report from Bloomberg, Iraq plans to increase its exports of Kirkuk crude from the Turkish port of Ceyhan (pictured) by 20 percent in April:

• 24 cargoes to be shipped, up from 21 in March;
• shipping rate of 510,000 barrels a day, up from 425,484 bpd in March.

Shipments of Iraqi Kirkuk crude from Ceyhan were halted nine times since the end of November because of technical reasons, bad weather or explosions, the Iraqi Oil Ministry said in a statement.

As a result, exports from the port were less than scheduled:

• January: 17 cargoes of the crude totaling 387,677 bpd shipped versus a planned 447,742 bpd;
• February: 369,447 bpd compared with 448,276 bpd planned.

(Sources: Bloomberg, AKnews)

Iraq’s oil ministry says oil exports in February have declined by nearly 4.5 percent compared to the previous month, as a result of bad weather and sabotage of pipelines.

“Iraq exported 58.4 million barrels of crude in February, down from 65.3 million barrels a month earlier and the lowest such figure since November 2010, figures published by the oil ministry show,” oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

This equates to a daily rate of 2.0137 million barrels per day in February, down from 2.107 million bpd in January.

Total revenues from oil sales were $6.595 billion last month, the lowest since February 2011, down from $7.123 billion in January, giving average oil prices of $112.928 in February, versus $109.081 the previous month.

The oil was sold to 27 international oil companies.

(Sources: AP, Aswat al-Iraq)

The Kipp Report, citing sources at Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company, reports that Iraq’s new offshore oil export terminal had resumed operations at 7.30 p.m. (1630 GMT) on Thursday, and was loading at a rate of 576,000 bpd.

Iraq’s Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi had said earlier on Thursday that bad weather rather than technical faults was to blame for the interruption in operations at the new single-point mooring (SPM).

The new facility loaded 2 million barrels of oil into its first ship, the Maersk Hirado (pictured), between 8th March and 13th March, but had subsequently stopped operations.

Shipping data reportedly showed exports from Iraq’s southern oil terminals rose to 2.4 million bpd on Friday from 1.94 million bpd on Thursday, its highest level since 2003.

(Source: Kipp Report)

Iraq said on Thursday that weather, rather than a technical fault, was behind an interruption in the operation of the new single point mooring (SPM) terminal on the Persian Gulf.

The new facility loaded 2 million barrels of oil into its first ship, the Maersk Hirado, between 8th March and 13th March, but has not worked since.

Sources at the state-owned South Oil Company had blamed technical faults for the interruption, but Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi [Elaibi] said that weather was to blame after storms hit the Gulf. “As we speak, a second vessel is on its way to the SPM, with a capacity of 2 million barrels,” Luaibi said.

Asim Jihad, an oil ministry spokesman, said, “it is hopeful that today or tomorrow an oil tanker will anchor to be supplied with oil”.

(Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg)