September oil exports averaging 2.6 million barrels a day, ministry says

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s crude exports have averaged about 2.6 million barrels a day in September so far, the Oil Ministry said, correcting reports that put the daily rate at 4 million — a figure it said was reached on a single day.

“The amount above was recorded for only one day of exports,” the ministry said, attributing it to an additional SOMO cargo of Qayyarah crude loaded outside the Strait of Hormuz alongside volumes from southern outlets and the northern route, where tankers are loaded once commercially viable quantities have accumulated. “The average daily export of Iraqi crude oil during September, up to the preparation of this clarification, amounted to around 2.6 million barrels per day,” it said, adding that the figure could move with shipments before month end.

That is up from about 2 million in August and about three quarters of the 3.3 to 3.5 million exported before shipping through Hormuz was disrupted. Exports fell from more than 99 million barrels in February to 18.6 million in March and to fewer than 10 million in April, forcing cuts in production. Iraq has since leaned on the northern route through Turkey and tanker transfers outside Hormuz, signed a memorandum with Syria in July on a pipeline to Baniyas, and agreed with Turkey in August on a minimum of 750,000 barrels a day through Ceyhan. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said in Berlin last week that Iraq “will not remain hostage to a single corridor.”