ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq collected over seven billion dollars from oil sales during the first month of 2023, reported the country’s oil ministry on Wednesday.
The country exported over 101 million barrels of crude oil during January, at an average rate of 3.2 million barrels per day and an average price of $75.9 per barrel.
The sales generated a revenue of $7.690 billion dollars, which was a slight increase from December’s $7.606 billion, but a decrease from the $8.27 billion made in the first month of 2022.
Iraq collected over $115 billion from oil sales in 2022, a significant increase from 2021’s $75.6 billion, setting an all-time record in the month of June with $11.5 billion.
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.
Global oil prices soared in 2022 amid shortfall fears following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the US repeatedly urging members of the Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase their oil production in efforts to stabilize the market. Iraq is also part of the agreement on production levels.
The ministers from the 13-nation OPEC group and Russian-led exporters met in Vienna in October and agreed to cut oil production by two million barrels per day starting from November.
The decision to cut oil production was largely criticized by the US, who relies mainly on oil imports to heat the country and wants to keep global prices low.
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