Iraq's oil output steady at 2.22-mil b/d for week-ended Aug 7

Dubai (Platts)--16Aug2005

Iraq's average crude production held steady at 2.22-mil b/d for the week ended
Aug 7, unchanged from the previous week, the US State Department said in its
latest Iraq Weekly Status Report. 

Iraq's average crude exports, mainly from the country's southern terminals,
stood at 1.658-mil b/d for the first week of August, up from the average of
1.55-mil b/d in July, the report said. This compares with an average of
1.44-mil b/d in June. Iraq's crude export revenue stood at $440-mil for the
August period covered in the report. Total export revenue stood at $2.47-bil
in July and $2.03-bil in June. Total to-date 2005 crude export revenue stood
at $13.38-bil, the state department report said. Iraq's total revenue in 2004
was $17.01-bil. Post-war crude output has remained below the oil ministry's
2005 target of 2.5-mil b/d and below Iraq's post-war high of 2.67-mil b/d, but
the oil ministry has undertaken a 100-day plan from June to increase exports
and production.

A senior oil ministry said production in the south was expected to climb to a
sustainable level of 1.8-mil b/d. For the week ended Aug 14, crude exports
from southern Iraq's Basra Oil Terminal and nearby Khor al-Amaya averaged
1.37-mil b/d, Platts reported port and shipping sources as saying Monday. Poor
weather and electricity outages have often caused delays to loading rates and
schedules at the country's southern oil terminals. The supply of gasoline and
diesel held above total domestic demand for the week ended Aug 7, with
gasoline supplies standing at 24.9-mil liters/day, compared with demand of
18-mil liters/day, and diesel supply at 22.0-mil liters/day, compared with
demand of 18-mil liters/day, the report said. But kerosene supplies of 4.9-mil
liters/day were below demand of 6.9-mil liters/day.

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