Iraq increases oil exports, sees extra revenues, state oil marketer says

Iraq has increased its oil exports following the gradual easing of voluntary production cuts under the OPEC+ agreement, according to the country’s state oil marketer, SOMO, on Sunday. Earlier this month, eight OPEC+ members agreed to raise production by 137,000 barrels per day from October.

OPEC+ has been gradually increasing production since April, after years of cuts designed to support the oil market.

The increase in Iraqi exports is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue at current price levels, said Ali Nizar Al-Shatari, SOMO's director general, in an interview with the Iraqi state news agency. While he did not specify the exact rise in exports, he noted that an additional 200,000 barrels per day would significantly boost government revenues.

Iraq’s oil exports averaged 3.38 million barrels per day in August, according to the oil ministry. SOMO expects the average for September’s exports to range between 3.4 million and 3.45 million barrels per day.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed hope that fellow producers would reconsider Iraq’s oil export quota to better align with its production capacity. As OPEC’s largest overproducer, Iraq has been under pressure from the group to reduce output to compensate for exceeding its agreed quota.

Iraq was among the countries that submitted plans in April to implement further output cuts to offset production above its allocated quotas.

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