Iraq generates $6.9 billion in September oil sales: Ministry

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq has pocketed an estimated revenue of $6.9 billion in September oil exports. down from $7.1 billion in the month prior, reported the country's oil ministry on Sunday.

 

The ministry said Baghdad exported over 102.1 million barrels of oil in September, at an average rate of 3.4 million barrels per day and an average price of 68.1 dollars per barrel.

 

"The quantity of crude oil exports, including condensates, amounted to 102,150,362 barrels... with revenues exceeding $6,962,124,000," the ministry said in a statement.

 

Oil revenue is Iraq’s main source of income, and the federal government relies on oil sales to cover its costs and pay the salaries of its civil servants.

 

Iraq is the second largest oil producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia. It produces an average 4.4 million barrels of oil per day. Of this number, it exports 3.3 million barrels, and uses the remaining to meet domestic demands.

 

The ministry's report comes nearly a month after Kurdistan Region's oil exports resumed, more than two years after suspension, following an interim agreement between Baghdad, Erbil and oil companies.

 

Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline had been suspended since March 2023, when a Paris-based arbitration court found that Ankara had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement with Baghdad by allowing Erbil to independently export oil since 2014.