[Rudaw] Iraq’s oil export revenue tumbled last month, as oil prices continue to fall in a declining global economy ‐ as OPEC attempts to counteract the decline with a nine-month extension of oil output limits.Revenue fell from $7.38 billion in May to $6.4 billion in June, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil’s monthly published statistics. Barrel exports fell nearly 6 percent, from 111 million barrels in May to 105 million in June.
The average price per barrel sold last month was $60.58 ‐ a huge reduction from its $66.68 mark in May.
The decline in revenue comes amid a fall in demand for oil during a global economic decline, as well as soaring oil output from non-OPEC member the United States ‐ now the world’s top oil producer.
Brent Crude Oil had been trading internationally at around $70 per barrel in early May, but fell sharply to under $64 by the end of the month.
Prices did, however, rise to $65 upon news of an OPEC agreement on Monday to extend daily oil output cuts aimed at stabilizing oil prices for another nine months.
The agreement came after a G20 pact made by leading OPEC member Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and Russia, a non-OPEC member but oil supply powerhouse, last weekend.
Iraqi oil minister Thamir Ghadhban told the Iraq Petroleum conference in London last week that Iraq’s current production capacity is 5 million barrels per day (bpd) ‐ far higher than the 3.52 million bpd exported last month - but that the country’s oilfields have yet to reach full production capacity.
"An estimated 2 million more barrels a day are to come from contracted south and central Iraqi oilfields," Ghadhban said, with these oilfields already the source of the vast majority of Iraqi exports.