Iraq made over $44bn in oil sales in first half of 2023

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq pocketed over $7 billion in crude oil sales during the month of June, bringing the country’s total revenue in the first half of the year to over $44 billion.

The Iraqi oil ministry in its preliminary monthly report on Saturday said that the country had exported over 100 million barrels of crude oil in the previous month, at a rate of 3.3 million barrels per day and an average price of over $71.

June’s exports generated a total revenue of $7.1 billion according to the early numbers, down from May's $7.3 billion.

The country has brought in an estimated revenue of $44.4 billion in the first six months of 2022, which is a significant drop from the oil revenue of the first half of 2022 which was placed at $61.3 billion.

Iraq collected over $115 billion from oil sales in 2022, a remarkable increase from 2021’s $75.6 billion.

Oil revenue is Iraq’s main source of income, and the federal government relies on oil sales to cover its costs and pay the salaries of its civil servants.

In compliance with the OPEC+ production cuts, Iraq announced in April that it was cutting oil production by 211,000 barrels per day starting from May and effective until the end of 2023.

The Kurdistan Region's oil exports through Turkey's Ceyhan port are yet to resume after being put on hold in late March following a ruling from a Paris-based arbitration court saying that Ankara had breached its 1973 pipeline agreement with Baghdad.