Monday, May 5, 2014

Iraqi oil exports 2.512 million bpd in April: oil ministry

BAGHDAD, May 4 (Reuters) - Iraq's monthly oil exports reached 2.512 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, an oil ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

Exports rose from 2.139 million bpd in March, ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said, adding that exports from the south of the country, where the bulk of Iraq's crude is produced and shipped abroad, were 2.509 million bpd - the highest since 2003.

The overall figure is still well below a target of 3.4 million bpd for 2014, which was intended to include 400,000 bpd from the country's autonomous Kurdish region.

Export growth has been held back by repeated sabotage of a northern pipeline and a dispute between the central government and Kurdistan, which has not shipped any oil via state infrastructure for more than one year.

Iraq's northern oil pipeline from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan has been shut down since militants blew it up at the beginning of March.

Meanwhile the Kurds have been building their own pipeline to Turkey and want to export oil independently of Baghdad, which has cut funds to the region as punishment.

yahoo.com

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