Iraq pocketed $97.5 billion from oil sales in 2023, a significant decline from 2022’s record-setting $115 billion.
Iraq exported more than 108 million barrels of oil during the month of December, averaging 3.4 million barrels per day at an average rate of around $77 per barrel. The sales brought in a total revenue of $8.316 million for the last month of 2023.
December’s earnings bring Iraq’s total yearly revenue to $97.5 billion, approximately $18 million less than 2022 which saw the country pocket $115.5 billion, mainly driven by the surge in global oil prices amid shortfall fears following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The decline in the annual revenue is partly due to the halt of Kurdish oil exports in April.
The Kurdistan Region’s oil exports through Turkey’s Ceyhan port have yet to resume after being put on hold in late March following a ruling from a Paris-based arbitration court saying that Ankara had breached its 1973 pipeline agreement with Baghdad.
The country’s highest monthly oil revenue in 2023 was recorded in October, during which Iraq collected nearly $9.6 billion from oil sales. February marked the year’s lowest monthly oil revenue for Iraq, with the country earning less than $7.1 billion.
Oil revenue is Iraq’s main source of income, and the federal government relies on oil sales to cover its costs and pay the salaries of its civil servants.
In compliance with the OPEC+ production cuts, Iraq announced in April that it was cutting oil production by 211,000 barrels per day starting from May and effective until the end of 2023, in addition to the two million barrels per day cut already in effect since November 2022.
