Iraq’s oil exports reach 1.895m bpd

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq has exported an average 1.895 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil until the end of August 2009, which saw the second highest export figures after 2003, according to an oil official. “Oil export rates in August reached 2.09 bpd at $67.5 a barrel,” the director general of the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), al-Aameri, told Iraqi News. The average oil price until late August was $53.5 U.S. dollars, Aameri noted. The 2009 budget was based on an average oil income of $50 per barrels, the director pointed out. In early August, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, Aasem Jihad, said that the country’s oil exports in July 2009 were 2.038 million bpd, a bit higher than June’s 1.924 million bpd. SS (P) 1