Statistics from both OPEC and Platts show Iran dumped to third place after Saudi Arabia and Iraq. And Baghdad is crowing about that.
“Oil production is now at 3.2 (million bpd), higher than other countries like Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait,” Hussein ash-Shahristani, deputy prime minister responsible for energy affairs, told journalists Sunday. But he was citing a figure higher than others estimate for Iraq, although the others agree Iraq has passed Iran.
Baghdad has long wanted to pass Iran. And Iran has been just as keen to keep the Iraqis in third place. Iran long insisted in OPEC debates that Iraq could never have a quota greater than Iran’s.
Here are the production statistics in thousands of barrels per day for July from Platts and OPEC;
Platts OPEC
3050 Iraq 3079
2900 Iran 2817
150 Diff 262
Iraq has sought to dramatically increase its oil output and exports, the latter of which account for the vast majority of government income, while world powers have imposed ever-tightening economic sanctions on Iran’s oil export sector.
Iraqi output has risen about 400,000 bpd since the end of 2011, while Iran’s output shows a 700,000 bpd decline.
The gap is likely to widen further as Iraq looks to ramp up production in coming years, and as several contracts with foreign energy firms to extract crude begin resulting in increased output.
Iraqi Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi has said Baghdad plans to increase production this year to 3.4 million bpd and exports to 2.6 million bpd.
