IRAQ DATA: April crude exports fell 0.3% on month, SOMO data shows

Iraq's crude exports in April fell by 10,000 b/d, or 0.3% on the month, to 3.413 million b/d, according to state oil marketer SOMO's preliminary monthly data obtained by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Exports were down from 3.423 million b/d in March, the data showed. Iraq's oil ministry previously released exports at the beginning of each month but will now release them at the end of the month when SOMO updates its figures, a ministry spokesman told S&P Global.

Iraq has been under pressure to reduce production to comply with OPEC+ output cuts. It breached its cap by a combined 602,000 b/d over the months of January, February and March, according to the OPEC secretariat. Production was 4.28 million b/d in March, against a quota of 4 million b/d, according to the latest Platts survey by S&P Global, the second-biggest producer in OPEC after Saudi Arabia.

On May 3, Iraq and Kazakhstan will "compensate" for overproducing their OPEC+ quotas by almost a combined 1 million b/d since the start of the year, including any overproduction in April, by implementing extra output cuts from May through December, officials from their oil ministries said in briefings with secondary sources organized by the OPEC secretariat. Platts is one of seven secondary sources that provides estimates of production by members. Iraq is the largest non-compliant member of the OPEC+ alliance.

Of the export total for April, 3.364 million b/d was shipped from southern Gulf terminals, down from 3.377 million b/d in March, and 15,000 b/d was sent by truck across the border to Jordan, unchanged on the month. Another 34,000 b/d of Qayarda heavy oil was shipped from the southern port of Khor Al-Zubair, up from 31,000 b/d in March.

The Gulf exports comprised 2.177 million b/d of Basrah Medium, with a contractual API gravity of 29, and 1.187 million b/d of Basrah Heavy, of average quality 23-24 API degrees; in March, Basrah Medium was 2.203 milion b/d and Basrah Heavy was 1.174 million b/d.

Exports remain suspended through Turkey via the Ceyhan port since March 2023, although many IOC producers in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq have diverted sales to local merchants at steep discounts; the stoppage has suspended some 375,000 b/d of Kurdish Blend grade and around 75,000 b/d of Kirkuk grade.

Stockpiles of Kurdish-produced crude at Ceyhan were 1.043 million barrels and federally produced Kirkuk grade stocks were 531,000 barrels, both unchanged, according to the SOMO data .

Inventories at the southern depots decreased by 750,000 barrels to 5.955 million barrels at the end of April, or about 64% of southern storage capacity.