Chinese companies buy largest share of Iraqi oil
An oil tanker at Iraq’s southern Basra oil terminal. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) announced on Monday that many Chinese oil companies bought Iraqi oil in December 2023.
SOMO’s statistics revealed that 44 oil companies—12 of which were Chinese—purchased oil from Iraq in December 2023.
The data showed that seven Indian oil corporations purchased Iraqi crude oil in December, making them the second-largest group of importers from one country after China.
According to the statistics, four South Korean oil companies imported oil from Iraq in the same month, making South Korea the third largest buyer of Iraqi crude oil, followed by Turkey, where three oil companies purchased Iraqi oil.
Two oil companies in each of the United States, Italy, Japan, the UAE, and Greece, as well as one oil company in each of Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, Jordan, Kuwait, Russia, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, and France, imported Iraqi oil last December.
Iraq’s oil marketing company indicated that the most prominent oil companies that bought Iraqi oil include Nayara Energy, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and Eni.