BAGHDAD, July 17 (UPI) -- Iraqi oil exports reached near-record levels as output increases from northern oil fields near Kirkuk, but they are still below post-war highs achieved in 2008.
June oil exports rose 19,000 barrels per day from May to 1.93 million bpd as northern exports reach their highest level since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
The Kurdish government announced it would begin oil exports from its Tawke and Taq Taq fields in June, though official figures as recorded by the Platts news service did not give a breakdown of the production from those developments.
In the south, production rose slightly to around 1.8 million bpd but is still below levels reached in 2008. That decline has led lawmakers to raise allegations that Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani was not meeting his obligations.
Iraq held auctions for 20-year service contracts for eight oil fields in the country in June but was only able to reach a deal for the Rumaila field in southern Iraq.
Overall oil exports from Iraq are below the post-war high reached in May 2008 of around 2 million bpd.
