Iraq’s oil revenues for the month of June were $2.86 billion - up almost $800 million from May, when revenue was $2.09 billion.
The revenue increase comes despite a cut in average daily exports from 3.21 million barrels in May to 2.82 million barrels in June.
The export reduction is adherence to an OPEC+ agreement, in which oil giants agreed to coordinated cuts to their production benchmarks.
March and April saw a global, month on month oil revenue fall, resulting from a price collapse sparked by a standoff between oil producing rivals Saudi Arabia and Russia, as a worldwide demand for fuel declined under the coronavirus lockdown.
Russian oil companies, struggling to find buyers under US sanctions, refused to cut production. Saudi Arabia responded by flooding the market with cheap oil to strong-arm the Russians.
When global demand began to shrink as a result of the outbreak, Saudi Arabia proposed cutting production to stabilize the price.
For smaller oil producing nations like Iraq – already in financial turmoil and battling the coronavirus pandemic - the standoff proved disastrous.
Moscow and Riyadh reached a deal on April 12 to cut oil production by 9.7 million bpd – equivalent to 10 percent of the world’s daily supply – for May and June. Global demand remains lower than average, however, as a result of the pandemic and the economic downturn it has sparked.
The increase in revenue is accounted for by a significant increase in the price per barrel of oil, in part down to the OPEC+ oil export cuts. A barrel of Iraqi oil sold for an average of $33.86 in June, up from $21.01 in May.
The new numbers look promising for Iraq, which depends on oil income for roughly 90 percent of its annual budget.
OPEC producers and allies agreed to continue the reduction until April next year. Iraq has pledged to eventually cut output by 1.06 million bpd under the deal.
