Iraq expects $25 billion in extra revenue from oil exports amid rising world prices, the country's Finance Minister Ali Alawi said Friday.
"Iraq will receive an unexpected $25 billion in profits within six months because of rising oil prices," he was quoted as saying by Iraq's INA news agency. The minister added, however, that the federal government did not receive revenues from Kurdistan, which is obliged to pass the proceeds from oil exports, customs duties and other regional taxes.
Last week, the World Bank published a report stating that Iraq's economy has begun to gradually recover from the double shock of the new coronavirus epidemic and the collapse of oil prices. As noted, the country is seeking to reach pre-epidemic levels of economic performance by increasing oil production and easing restrictions on the coronavirus.
The day before in Baghdad, it was announced that the average monthly exports of Iraqi oil was 3.4 million barrels per day. According to the General Director of the Somo Iraqi state oil company Alyaa al-Yasiri, "the average volume of Iraqi oil exports this month ranges from 3.35 million to 3.4 million barrels of oil per day." In this case, he noted that the main consumer is the Asian market, which accounts for 70% of all deliveries. The key buyers of Iraqi oil are India, China and Korea. The country also plans to increase oil supplies to Europe in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
In early April, Iraq announced plans to bring oil export volumes to more than 3.3 million barrels per day amid rising energy prices. In March, the country recorded its highest net profit from oil exports since 1972, which amounted to $11.07 billion. More than 101 million barrels were delivered to the foreign market then. The considerable part of the exported oil is produced in the fields in the central and southern regions of the country (about 99 million barrels). More than 1 million barrels of oil is produced in the Kirkuk province. At the same time, Iraq's oil production has been declining in recent months and does not meet the quota provided for in the OPEC + agreement.
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Based on materials from TASS