Iraq\'s oil exports up in October

The average of Iraq's oil exports increased in October to 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd), compared to 2.07 million bpd in September, the Oil Ministry said on Saturday. Iraq exported a total of 69.8 million barrels over the 31 days of October and brought in 7.160 billion U.S. dollars in revenues, with an average selling price of 102.579 dollars per barrel, the ministry said in a statement emailed to Xinhua. Iraq exported 63.8 million barrels through the southern port of Basra, and 621,000 barrels via Turkey's port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea, the statement said. "The amounts of oil exports and the revenues for October were higher than of September, despite ongoing maintenance in the southern terminals and the suspension of pumping through the ( northern) Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline several times due to sabotage," the statement quoted the ministry spokesman Asim Jihad as saying. Iraq's economy depends on oil revenues for nearly 95 percent of its budget. In 2010, Iraq announced its proven oil reserves had increased to 143.1 billion barrels from the previous estimation of 115 billion barrels.