IRAQ DATA: October oil output rises 6.7%, flouting OPEC+ quota - SOMO

Dubai — Iraq's oil production in October, including flows from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, rose 6.7% from September, exceeding the country's OPEC+ quota, official SOMO data showed Nov. 5.

OPEC's second largest oil producer pumped 3.842 million b/d in October, above September's 3.60 million b/d and its quota of 3.804 million b/d, according to SOMO figures.

Iraq has been a habitual laggard this year in terms of its OPEC+ quota compliance. It overproduced May through July and pledged to compensate for busting its quota during these months.

Iraq is supposed to make 698,000 b/d of catch-up cuts from September through to December, divided into 203,000 b/d in September and 165,000 b/d in October, November and December.

Iraqi officials in the federal government have in the past blamed overproduction in the Kurdish region for the country's lax compliance with oil output cuts.

Kurdish exports

Production from the federal government's fields reached 3.396 million b/d in October, while output from the Kurdish region averaged 446,000 b/d, the SOMO figures showed. SOMO did not give a breakdown in September.

Total exports in October rose 8% to 3.292 million b/d, up from 3.050 million b/d in September, while the Kurdish region exported 416,000 b/d in October, down 4.8% from 437,000 b/d in September, SOMO figures showed..

However, an attack on the Kurdish region's export pipeline to Turkey's port of Ceyhan halted exports on Oct. 28. Exports have yet to resume.

Domestic consumption of crude averaged 550,000 b/d in October, unchanged from September. In the federal region consumption averaged 520,000 b/d while in the Kurdish region it was 30,000 b/d, SOMO figures showed.

SOMO did not provide a breakdown of domestic use figures for September.