Iraqi crude oil exports fell in December

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BAGHDAD, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Iraqi oil exports fell from a post-1990 record in November to around 2.3 million barrels per day for December, government records indicate.

Figures obtained by the Platts reporting service from Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization indicate that Iraqi crude oil exports declined 272,000 bpd from November's record to 2.35 million bpd in December.

December exports from Iraq's southern ports declined 172,000 bpd to 2.02 million bpd. Rough weather in the Persian Gulf region left some storage units idle, limiting storage capacity for southern oil fields, reports Platts.

Export from northern production areas in the Kurdish region of Iraq fell from the November level of 425,000 bpd to settle at 325,000 bpd for December. Platts attributed the decline in exports to lower supplies reaching a northern pipeline system.

Last month, Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said at a regional oil and natural gas conference that production from the semiautonomous northern region should add at least $8 billion to the Iraqi treasury. In 2013, he said, the region should export, on average, 250,000 barrels of oil per day.

Baghdad and the Kurdish government are at odds over oil laws in the country. The central government says unilateral deals with the Kurds are illegal.