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(Reuters) – Iraq will keep crude oil production at around 1.4 million barrels per day, Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani was quoted as saying on Thursday, less than a third of the level before the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
According to the state news agency, the minister said that 200,000 bpd is being transported by truck through Turkey, Syria, and Jordan and that Iraq has put in place a plan to manage the current disruptions.
Oil production from Iraq’s main southern oilfields, where most of its oil is produced and exported, has plunged 70% to just 1.3 million bpd, sources told Reuters on March 8, as the country is unable to export via the Gulf due to the war.
The drop in production and exports is set to strain Iraq’s already fragile finances as the state relies on crude sales for nearly all public spending and more than 90% of its income.
Under pressure to mitigate the losses, the oil ministry has asked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) if it would pump at least 100,000 bpd from its state-managed Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey’s Ceyhan port, sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The ministry said the KRG has not yet responded to the request.
Abdel-Ghani was quoted as saying on Thursday that Iraq will sign an agreement on exporting oil through the Ceyhan pipeline, but he did not give further details.
Reporting by Ahmed Elimam and Jana Choukeir. Writing by Ahmed Rasheed. Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter
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