Iraq's oil exports decline but earnings nearly double

Iraq's oil exports dipped around 25% to 11.34 million bbl during the week ended Jan. 24, after rising to 15.1 million bbl the previous week under the United Nations's oil-for-aid program.

Jan. 29, 2003

2 min read

By an OGJ correspondent

NICOSIA, Jan. 29 -- Iraq's oil exports dipped around 25% to 11.34 million bbl during the week ended Jan. 24, after rising to 15.1 million bbl the previous week under the United Nations's oil-for-aid program.

Year-on-year figures, however, suggest that Iraqi exports for the first 4 weeks of January are running slightly higher than for the comparable weeks of January 2002, while earnings are nearly double.

During this month, there have been 33 loadings totaling 46.26 million bbl as opposed to 27 loadings totaling 43.3 million bbl in January last year. On average, the Iraqis are loading 1.4 million bbl/shipment this month, compared with 1.6 million bbl/shipment in January 2002.

Owing to the rise in oil prices, however, Iraq's earning of $1.291 billion for this January is nearly twice the $709 million brought in during the same period in 2002.

UN officials told OGJ there was "no particular reason" for the fall-off during Jan. 18-24, but reports emerged last week that water contamination in the pipeline that pumps Iraqi oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan would delay oil tanker loadings.

As a result, oil flow was reduced during Jan. 18-19 while port officials attempted to drain water from the system, oil buyers said.

UN officials said Tuesday that Iraq exported an average 1.6 million b/d during Jan. 18-24, down 500,000 b/d from an average of 2.1 million b/d during the week ended Jan. 17.

There were 8 loadings during Jan. 18-24, including 4 from the Iraqi port of Mina al-Bakr for a total of 6.32 million bbl, and 4 from the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan for 5.04 million bbl.

The UN estimated that, at an average price of $27.80/bbl, Iraq's most recent exports generated $324 million for the aid program.

UN officials approved 9 new oil sales contracts for the week, bringing the current total to 111, covering 273 million bbl of oil. The UN did not specify the volumes of the contracts.

Phase 13 of the UN's oil-for-aid program extends from Dec. 5, 2002, through June 3, 2003. The UN said estimated revenue generated from the beginning of this most recent phase stands at $2.2 billion.