Shafaq News/ Iraq's oil exports, including volumes from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, rose 0.5% in December, despite an increase in its OPEC+ quota, according to oil ministry data and local shipping agents' reports from Turkey's Ceyhan terminal seen by S&P Global Platts.
Register Now Total oil exports in OPEC's second-biggest producer rose to 3.677 million b/d in December, from 3.660 million b/d in November, data showed.
Federal Iraq exports rose to 3.277 million b/d in December, up from 3.273 million b/d in November, while Kurdish exports increased to 400,000 b/d, a 3.3% uptick from November.
Iraq's OPEC+ quota rose to 4.237 million b/d in December from 4.193 million b/d in November as the 23-member coalition continued to add 400,000 b/d a month as planned under a July agreement. Iraq's quota for January is 4.281 million b/d.
OPEC+ decided on Jan. 4 to add another 400,000 b/d in February despite the spread of the omicron variant. The group, which is convening monthly, will meet next on Feb. 2 to decide on March production levels.
Gulf exports
Federal exports from the southern Gulf terminals dipped to 3.180 million b/d in December from 3.195 million in November, while exports of Kirkuk through Ceyhan rose to 87,000 b/d from 68,000 b/d in November and oil trucked to Jordan remained steady at 10,000 b/d. Exports of the heavy Qayara oil from the southern port of Khor al-Zubair remained suspended in December.
Federal exports from the Gulf terminals federal included of 901,000 b/d of Basrah Light oil of average quality of 31-33 API degrees, 1.195 million b/d of Basrah Medium of average quality 27-29 API degrees, which is a new grade that was introduced in January 2021, and 1.084 million b/d of Basrah Heavy of average quality of 23-24 API degrees, according to figures from State Oil Marketing Organization seen by Platts.
In November, Basrah Light exports remained steady at 900,000 b/d, while Basrah Medium was at 1.215 million b/d and Basrah Heavy reached 1.080 million b/d.
To cater for the increased Basrah Medium exports, SOMO last year converted the fixed jetties of the Basrah oil terminal to handle only Basrah Medium, while the export of Basrah Light was shifted to the SPMs alongside volumes of Basrah Heavy.
At the end of December, the federal stock level of the Kirkuk oil destined to export from Ceyhan was 659,000 barrels, up from 582,000 barrels in November, and stocks in the south stood at 3.470 million barrels compared with 2.930 million barrels at the end of November.
Kurdish oil stocks in Ceyhan fell to 2.3 million barrels in December from 2.4 million in November, shipping agents' reports showed.
