The volume of crude oil exports from Kirkuk fields last November has dropped to two million barrels only, the lowest in 2021, with revenues exceeding 150 million American Dollars compared to 3 million barrels in October marketed for $242 million, Iraqi ministry of oil said in its monthly publication.
Figures by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil show the amount of crude oil exported from all Iraqi oil fields in November 2021 exceeded 98 million barrelsfor more than $7.6 billion.
Iraq's federal oil exports, excluding flows from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, in November rose 5% month on month, the ministry said on Dec. 1, amid a higher OPEC+ quota.
There are five major oil producing fields in Kirkuk, Avana, Bai Hassan, Qubbat Baba, Jambour and Khabaza, which are supervised by the Iraqi government's North Oil Company.
The northern oil rich city of Kirkuk hit peak of its production in February when it has pumped 3,8 million barrels for $213M, the highest production capacity in 2021.
Early 2020, Kirkuk was exporting only 1,1 million barrels exported to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan by a pipeline crossing Iraqi Kurdistan.
Kirkuk, Iraq’s second largest reserves, located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed province for 1,7 million Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmens. It has long been at the center of disputes between Baghdad and the Erbil.
Kirkuk oil exports stopped from July 2017 to first quarter of 2019 due to a standoff between the Iraqi government and Kurdistan regional Government KRG. Iraqi forces took over power in Kirkuk in October 2017, the federal government has controlled the five oil fields of Kirkuk.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry announced that Iraq and Turkey are going to reopen the 970-kilometer-long pipeline that transports Iraqi crude from Kirkuk to export facilities in Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast.
Iraq’s oil reserves are considered the world's fifth-largest with 140 billion barrels.
