Iraq’s oil output climbs to record despite fighting

Iraq’s crude production climbed to an all-time high in July with record exports from southern terminals mostly unscathed by Islamic State militants.

Output in OPEC’s second-largest crude producer rose to 4.18 million barrels a day last month from 4.15 million in June, according to the International Energy Agency monthly report on Wednesday. Giant fields in the south cranked out record Basra crude exports of 3.06 million barrels a day, up about 40,000 barrels from June, it said.

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Brent oil dropped 14 percent this year as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries defended market share against booming production in the U.S. Iraq needs to keep increasing oil production because lower oil prices have curbed government revenue at a time when Islamic State militants captured parts of Iraq’s north last year.

Exports in shipments from the north of Iraq through the port of Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast dipped 50,000 barrels a day to about 520,000 barrels a day, according to the IEA. The drop was due to rising tension between the central government and the self-ruled Kurdish regional authorities in the north over oil payments and after an attack at the end of July on an export pipeline inside Turkey, it said. Exports resumed on Aug. 6.

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International oil companies operating KRG’s oil fields have not received revenue from exports since late last year, although they have received some cash for domestic sales, the IEA said.

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