Southern Exports Remain High

By Simon Kent.

Iraq's southern oil exports remained close to their recent record of 3.37 million bpd, which was hit in November, Reuters reports.

Possibly lessened by several days of maintenance work at the Single Point Moorings at the Basra terminals, the figures for December were slightly lower, at 3.27 million bpd.

This closes a good year for southern Iraqi exports, which surprised observers by overcoming challenges and adding another half a million barrels per day to production in 2015.

Meanwhile, the KRI figures for December were also down but still  impressive at 550,000 bpd daily average exports, down from November's 600,000 bpd record.

On the critical issue of Baghdad-Erbil relations and the now stalled November 2014 oil exports deal, Reuters reported that for a third month, the KRI had not sent any oil through Iraq's State Oil Marketing Company.

(Source: Reuters)