Iraq oil exports up as price for oil drops

Iraq's Oil Ministry made good on a pledge last month to turn around a four-month decline in oil exports as Iraqi oil starts fetching less than $60 a barrel.

New data from the ministry show Iraqi oil exports increased by more than 7 percent from September through October, which averaged 1.7 million barrels per day.

Exports slightly dropped in the north, from 320,000 bpd in September to 319,354 last month. But southern exports made up for the difference and then some, from 1.32 million bpd in September to October's 1.38 million bpd. The pipeline from Iraq's Kirkuk fields to Turkey's port of Ceyhan has been sent offline twice so far this month -- both from explosions on Turkey's side -- and it will likely dent northern export tallies further this month.

Iraq earned less in October than September as the price per barrel fell nearly 32 percent to $58.90. Iraq's oil exports have brought in more than $58.6 billion so far this year, according to the U.S. State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report. This is due to both an increase in oil exports and record oil prices.

Iraqi oil sales made the country $41 billion last year.

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Ben Lando, UPI Energy Editor

(e-mail: blando@upi.com)