ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq has generated an estimated revenue of $7.1 billion in August oil exports, reported the country's oil ministry on Monday, as global oil prices dropped to $68.
The ministry said Baghdad exported over 104.8 million barrels of oil, at an average rate of 3.4 million barrels per day and an average price of 67.7 dollars per barrel.
"The total quantity of crude oil exports, including condensates, amounted to 104,806,884 barrels... with revenues amounting to more than $7,160,253,000," the ministry said.
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.
The ministry's report comes days after Kurdistan Region's oil exports resumed, more than two years after suspension, following an interim agreement between Baghdad, Erbil and oil companies.
Oil prices dropped on Monday after Kurdish oil exports resumed to the international market, coupled with OPEC+ plans for another oil production increase in November.
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline had been suspended since March 2023, when a Paris-based arbitration court found that Ankara had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement with Baghdad by allowing Erbil to independently export oil since 2014.
Iraq’s Minister of Oil Hayyan Abdul Ghani commented on the agreement on Friday, saying that for the first time in 20 years the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has agreed to send 190,000 barrels of oil per day to Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) and some 50,000 barrels will be kept for internal use and managed by Erbil’s Ministry of Natural Resources.