Iraq's federal crude oil exports in April fell 3.3% from March to 3.34 million b/d due to weather-related disruptions and maintenance issues, according to oil ministry data and sources.
The northern Persian Gulf, from where Iraq ships all of its crude saw three days of inclement weather in the month, sources said Wednesday. The bad weather was compounded by the suspension of loadings from the Khor al-Amaya terminal, due to leaks at an old pipeline, and one of the single-point moorings (SPM-1), which was under maintenance.
Khor al-Amaya can load up to 300,000 b/d of crude. A new pipeline to the terminal has been laid, but sources said it had not yet been connected.
Iraq has four SPMs, each with a loading capacity of 900,000 b/d, but only two are usually operated at any time. Sources said SPM-1 is currently unusable due to a broken hose. A replacement is expected to take weeks to arrive and be installed. Originally planned for April, the installation was pushed back to May as Iraq awaits delivery of the hose.
Despite the 113,000 b/d drop in exports from March, the April exports are still above Iraq's 2017 average of 3.309 million b/d. Federal exports averaged 3.427 million b/d in the first four months of the year, up nearly 5% from 3.276 million b/d in the same period of 2017.
The oil ministry did not provide any estimate of exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. S&P Global Platts estimates total country-wide exports at 3.640 million b/d in April, with the addition of around 300,000 b/d shipped by the KRG from Turkey's Ceyhan port on the Mediterranean. These shipments are opposed by Baghdad as unconstitutional and the KRG has not published its own data on exports for months.
The oil ministry did not give a breakdown of its shipments for its two export grades, Basrah Light and Basrah Heavy. The lighter grade typically accounts for 75% of shipments.
Gulf terminal status reports seen by Platts showed there were seven tankers berthed and another four waiting up to two days to load on the morning of May 1. The seven berthed tankers are at various stages of loading and their remaining cargoes amounted to 3 million barrels. The total load of the waiting tankers is around 7 million barrels. The expected 10 million barrel loading volume will roll over into Iraq's May exports.
Despite the lower exports, Iraq's revenues rose, with prices in April averaging $64.6/b, up $4.50/b from March. This boosted revenues by $39 million to $6.474 billion, oil ministry data showed.
