Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, exported on average 3.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in May, flat compared to April, according to the Iraqi oil ministry.
An oil dispute between the Iraqi government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region that also involves Turkey has escalated this week, pushing oil prices higher.
Oil prices rose by 2% early on Monday, with the U.S. benchmark up above $70 a barrel again, driven up by a halt to Kurdistan’s 400,000-bpd of crude exports and signs of easing concerns about the global banking sector.
The recent signing by Iraq’s federal government in Baghdad of three long-term oil and gas sector contracts with the UAE’s Crescent Petroleum – a company also heavily involved in the same sectors of Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan – may indicate that the ban on international oil companies (IOCs) trying to operate in both regions has now been relaxed by Baghdad.