Iraq’s Oil Ministry last week released its full year crude export figures for 2020, and the picture isn’t pretty. Annual export revenues, which provide Baghdad with more than 90% of its total revenue, collapsed to $41.4bn (see chart) – the lowest figure since 2009 when the country was exporting just 1.9mn b/d.
Due to Opec+ compliance efforts, overall exports fell over 500,000 b/d year-on-year to 2.99mn b/d, with 97% of these loading at Basra. Northern exports via the KRG’s pipeline to Ceyhan on the Turkish coast held steady at 91,000 b/d in 2020, whilst trucked volumes to Jordan doubled, albeit to a meager 6,000 b/d. Exports from the Qayara heavy oil field – which are also loaded at Basra but sold as a separate grade – collapsed to just 2,000 b/d from 21,000 b/d in 2019, due to low oil prices making production of the heavily discounted crude uneconomical. (CONTINUED - 203 WORDS)
