Iraq February oil exports rise to 2.202 million bpd

Iraq’s oil exports hit the highest level in February since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, an Oil Ministry official said on Tuesday.

The average of the crude oil exports was 2.202 million barrel per day (bpd) last month with an average selling price of 97 U.S. dollars per barrel, bringing in revenues of more than 6 billion dollars, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The increase in the exports was due to the resumption of oil exports from Iraq’s northern region of Kurdistan last month, following a halt in 2009 due to a dispute with the central government in Baghdad over the legality of contracts signed earlier by the regional Kurdish government with foreign oil companies, the official said.

Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region exported nearly 70,000 bpd last month. The region’s oil had been exported by Iraq’s Kirkuk pipeline via Turkey’s port of Ceyhan in the Mediterranean Sea.

February’s increase of oil exports is the highest for Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and is also higher than the previous month of January when the country’s exports averaged 2. 161 million bpd, bringing in revenues of 6.082 billion dollars with an average price of 90.78 dollars a barrel for the month.

Earlier, Baghdad signed service contracts to develop a total of 12 oil fields across the country, aiming at giving the country the potential to increase its oil output capacity, which is currently at roughly 2.6 million bpd, to 3 million bpd by the end of the year and to 12 million bpd in six or seven years.

The country depends on oil revenues for nearly 95 percent of its budget.