Iraq's oil exports fall 6.6% in May as OPEC producer sold oil at $21/b: ministry

Dubai — Iraq's oil exports, excluding those from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, fell 6.6% in May, according to the oil ministry, indicating that OPEC's second-biggest oil producer may have struggled to cut its output by about 23% in accordance with the new OPEC+ agreement.

Iraq's oil exports in May averaged 3.212 million b/d, the ministry said in a statement on June 1. In April, exports were 3.438 million b/d.

Iraq had agreed to trim its output by 1.061 million b/d in May and June as part of a broader OPEC+ pact to cut production by a historic 9.7 million b/d during these two months. Iraq, which does not publish its production figures, has a quota of 3.59 million b/d for May and June under the new OPEC+ agreement.

The country struggled for most of last year to comply with its old OPEC+ quota. Iraq and Saudi Arabia affirmed on May 23 their commitment to the OPEC+ agreement during a visit by Iraq's acting oil minister Ali Allawi to the Gulf state.

Iraqi exports from the southern oil terminals reached 3.098 million b/d and from Turkey's Ceyhan 114,000 b/d, the ministry said.

In April, average exports from the southern terminals stood at 3.351 million b/d, from Ceyhan 76,000 b/d and to Jordan 11,000 b/d.

The OPEC producer raked in $2.09 billion in May by selling its oil at an average price of $21/b, compared with $1.4 billion in April at an average of $13.8/b.