Iraq oil exports increase by 8% in May

Iraqi oil exports increased by eight percent in May according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Oil in Iraq last Sunday, but the number remains below the government’s target for 2014.

The average exports reached in May, 2.582 million barrels per day, up from 2.39 million bpd in April, but below the target level of 3.4 million barrels per day for the current year.

The target level includes 400 thousand barrels per day from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, which did not export any quantities of crude through the infrastructure of the central government for more than a year because of disagreements on the management of resources with Baghdad.

The export growth is also affected by the damage caused to the northern pipeline, which has been bombed by gunmen in early March and remained disabled since then.

An Iraq Ministry of Oil spokesman, Assem Jihad, said in a press releasee that the average price of a barrel of Iraqi oil stood at $100.80 dollars in May, which added revenues of $8.07 billion dollars.