Iraq oil exports hit monthly record high to 2.8m barrels per day

The average of Iraq's oil exports increased in February to 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd), the highest exports in decades, an official newspaper said on Sunday. "The production of crude oil during February was about 3.5 million bpd, from which 2.8 million bpd have been exported which is unprecedented record for the previous years," the state-run al- Sabah news paper quoted Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussein al-Shahristani as saying. The exports average was the highest since the invasion of Kuwait by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 1990, which led to severe UN sanctions that crippled the Iraqi oil industry. February's oil exports hike was attributed to the completion of work on a new platform at Basra ports, the paper said. Most of Iraq's oil exports are from the southern oil-hub of Basra, while a fewer portion goes via Turkey's port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea. Iraq's economy depends on oil revenues for nearly 95 percent of its budget. In 2010, Iraq announced that its proven oil reserves had increased to 143.1 billion barrels from the previous estimation of 115 billion barrels.