Iraq earned $3.72 billion from crude oil exports in September, Asim Cihat, the spokesman for the Iraqi ministry of petroleum, said Thursday.
'According to Iraqi central government’s oil marketing company SOMO, a total of 92 million barrels of crude oil were exported in September. The average price for a barrel of exported crude is calculated as $41,' he said in a statement.
Cihat noted that 91 million barrels of the total amount of crude exports were produced in oil fields in southern Iraq, and their export generated $3.69 billion last month.
He added that 600,000 barrels of crude oil were exported through Turkey's southern port Ceyhan via pipelines in September, and $28 million were generated from those exports.
The statement also tackled the oil sales and budget shares agreement between the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government in Beghdad, and said 'According to the deal, the KRG had to deliver 550,000 barrels of crude every day. But, this was not met.'
Erbil and Baghdad reached an agreement on Dec. 2, 2014 to export the KRG's oil in exchange for a share of the budget from the central government.
According to the agreement, the KRG was to export 250,000 barrels of oil per day with the Kirkuk province providing 300,000 barrels per day under the supervision of the central government’s oil marketing company, SOMO. In return, Baghdad was to provide 17 percent of the national budget to the KRG.
There have been numerous disputes between Erbil and Baghdad due to the amount of crude oil being exported. While Erbil accuses the central government of failing to provide its full share from the national budget, Baghdad claims the KRG has not delivered the promised amount of crude oil from Kirkuk.
Reporting by Idris Okuducu
Writing by Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr