Iraq exported 113.11 million barrels of crude oil in January, down from 115.51 million in December, marking a decrease of 2.08 percent, the Oil Ministry announced Friday.
In a statement published on its official website, the ministry said the revenues from last month's exports stood at $6.35 billion based on preliminary figures released by the state-run oil marketing firm SOMO.
Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said the total volume of crude oil exported from the oilfields in central and southern Iraq amounted to over 110.2 million barrels, while the country exported over 2.3 million barrels through the Ceyhan port in southern Turkey, and 550,775 barrels from the Qayyarah field.
This means the oil exported through Ceyhan was down by 24.5 percent compared to the previous month’s level of 3.06 million barrels.
Jihad said the daily rate of exports averaged nearly 3.65 million barrels in January, and the average price per barrel amounted to $56.16, up from $53.96 in the previous month.
The increase in oil prices made up for the fall in export volume, leading to a rise in revenue compared to the previous month's level of $6.23 billion.
Although the spokesman did not specify the origin of oil exported through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, the figure likely includes exports from the oilfields in the northern province of Kirkuk, where oil activity had been halted for nearly a year after Iraqi forces took over the facilities in response to the September 2017 illegitimate referendum for independence of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) from the central government in Baghdad.
Oil extraction and pumping from Kirkuk was suspended in October 2017 until Nov. 16, 2018, when Iraq's federal government and the KRG reached a tentative agreement to resume oil exports from Kirkuk to Ceyhan.
Iraq is OPEC's second largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr