Iraq oil production continues to fall as storages fill up, and exports of Hormuz are blocked by conflict
Three Iraqi energy officials stated on Wednesday that the country's oil production is in decline as the Iran War rages. Storage tanks are at critical levels and the country cannot export crude through the Strait of Hormuz.
The officials said that the output?from?Iraq?s southern main oilfields?has further dropped by around 80%, to about 800,000. barrels per daily (bpd).
Industry sources said that earlier this month, Iraqi production of oil from its southern main oilfields was down by 70%, to around 1.3m barrels a day. This is because the country could not export crude through the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the war, the production from the fields was around 4.3 millions bpd.
Officials'said Iraq decided to further cut production starting Tuesday after asking BP if they could reduce production at the giant Rumaila field by 100,000 bpd. Production will now be reduced to around?350,000 bpd compared to a previous level of 450,000 bpd.
Iraq also asked Italy's Eni to reduce production at the Zubair oil field from its current 330,000 barrels per day by 70,000 barrels per day. Due to the high and critical levels in its storage depots please reduce production and pumping out of North Rumaila from current levels to 350,000 barrels a day, starting at 0900 local on March 24, said an official note issued by the state-run Basrah Oil Company to BP.
Eni also received a similar letter. Iraqi sources also said that the country has cut production from various state-run fields.
Iraqi officials have warned that further production cuts may be announced if the crisis at the Strait of Hormuz is not resolved.
A senior oil official familiar with production operations in Iraq said that after successive cuts the production of southern oilfields has fallen to 800,000 bpd. The available storage space is now 'critically limited' and exports are still halted.
Two other Iraqi officials in the energy sector confirmed this figure.
(source: Reuters)
