Iraq earned $3.72 billion from聽crude oil exports in September,聽Asim Cihat, the spokesman for the Iraqi ministry of petroleum, said Thursday.聽
"According to Iraqi聽central government鈥檚 oil marketing company聽SOMO, a total of聽92 million barrels of聽crude oil were exported in September. The average price for a barrel of exported crude is calculated as $41," he said in a statement.聽
Cihat noted that 91 million barrels聽of the total amount of crude exports聽were produced in oil fields in southern Iraq, and their export generated $3.69 billion last month.聽
He added that 600,000 barrels of crude oil were exported聽through聽Turkey's southern port Ceyhan via pipelines in September, and $28 million were generated from those exports.聽
The statement also tackled聽the oil sales and budget shares agreement between the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi central government in Beghdad, and said "According to the deal, the KRG had to deliver 550,000 barrels of crude every day. But, this was not met."
Erbil and Baghdad reached an agreement on Dec. 2, 2014 to export聽the KRG's oil in exchange for a share of the budget from the central government. 聽
According to the agreement, the聽KRG was to聽export 250,000 barrels of oil per day聽with the聽Kirkuk聽province providing聽300,000 barrels per day聽under the supervision of the central government鈥檚 oil marketing company, SOMO.聽In return, Baghdad聽was聽to provide 17 percent of the聽national budget to the KRG.聽
There have been numerous disputes between Erbil聽and Baghdad due to the amount of crude oil being exported.聽While Erbil聽accuses聽the central government聽of failing聽to聽provide its full share from the national budget,聽Baghdad claims the KRG has not聽delivered the聽promised amount of crude oil from Kirkuk.
Reporting by Idris Okuducu
Writing by Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency