Kirkuk oil exports to Turkey during the past month amounted to 2.5 million barrels, with revenues exceeding 180 million American dollars USD, while it has exported the same quantity in January 2022 for over 200 million USD.
The average price per barrel of Iraqi crude oil in that month was more than $75.
According to the statistics of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the State Oil Marketing Company SOMO for the month of January 2023, the total exports of crude oil from all of Iraq's oil fields amounted to 101.245 million barrels, with revenues estimated at 7.69 billion USD.
The production capacity of Iraqi oil fields hit 99.3 million barrels in January 2022 for 8.27 billion as each barrel of crude oil was marketed for USD83.
There are five main crude oil producing fields in Kirkuk province; Avana, Bay Hassan, Baba Dome, Jambur and Khabaza, under the control of the Iraqi Government’s North Oil Company.
Kirkuk, Iraq’s second largest reserves, located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, is an ethnically mixed province for 1,7 million Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens. It has long been at the center of disputed territories between Baghdad and the Erbil.
The total crude oil exports from the Kirkuk fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan via pipelines amounted to 2,475,516 barrels, with revenues exceeding 180 million dollars. According to preliminary statistics of SOMO, 250,000 barrels were exported via tanks to Jordan, with revenues reaching 20 million USD.
Crude oil exports from the Kirkuk fields through pipelines and tanks during the past year amounted to more than 29.5 million barrels, with revenues exceeding 2.8 billion USD.
Kirkuk oil exports declined in 2022, but revenues increased compared to the previous year, as the total exports in 2021 were more than 35 million barrels, with revenues amounting to more than 2.4 billion USD.
As for the year 2020, the total exports reached 33 million barrels, with revenues 1.2 billion USD, while in 2019, over 33 million barrels were exported for 2.33 billion USD.
Iraq’s oil reserves are considered the world's fifth-largest with 140 billion barrels.
The head of Iraq's Basra Oil Company (BOC) told Reuters on Wednesday that he expects Qatar to acquire a 20-25% stake in France's Oil Major TotalEnergies $27 billion cluster of energy projects in the country, with the Baghdad government aiming to hold around 40%.
A major investment in the projects by a Gulf state would be an important win for Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani, who took office last October following more than a year of political turmoil. It would also be considered a step towards countering Iranian influence.
