Iran Energy News Oil, Gas, Petrochemical and Energy Field Specialized Channel
Related Articles
Iraq’s crude exports fell 7% in October after the Kurdish region held an independence referendum that sparked fighting with federal troops. interrupting pipeline sales. Shipments from Opec’s second-largest producer dropped to 3.72mn bpd in October. from 3.98mn in September. according to Bloomberg tanker tracking. Exports from the disputed Kirkuk region halted amid the dispute. cutting sales from northern Iraq in the second half of the month to less than half their normal pace of 600.000 bpd. according to port agent reports and tanker tracking. Shipments were the lowest since April when pipeline disruptions in the north and jetty repairs in the south slowed sales. Iraq’s faltering exports bolstered crude prices last month. helping push Brent to a third monthly gain this year and its first close at more than $60 a barrel. Global producers have been trimming output to deal with oversupply that’s cut prices from more than $100 a barrel in 2014. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets later this month to discuss extending output cuts that started in January beyond March 2018. The country hadn’t complied fully with its pledged output cuts until last month when fighting with the Kurds brought production down to within limits in the Opec deal. The country pumped 4.35mn barrels daily in October. the first month this year that it’s complied with the pledged output cuts. according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Iraq has been Opec’s star performer since the start of the decade. nearly doubling crude production as it brought in international partners to develop its giant fields in the south. While smaller explorers bought up acreage in northern Iraq. production increases there have been plagued by disputes over crude revenue between the semi-autonomous Kurds and the federal government. Those disputes and a three-year battle against Islamic State militants weren’t enough to stop Iraq from boosting output to a high of 4.63mn bpd in December. the month before Opec’s cuts started. Iraq sold 3.29mn bpd of crude from Basrah port in the south last month. down 2% from September. according to tanker tracking. Sales from the Kurdish region. which had included flows from fields in Kirkuk province. plunged 30% in the month to 428.387 barrels a day.
