Iraq’s oil revenue crosses $115bn in 2022

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Iraq’s oil revenues exceeded $115 billion in 2022, according to figures announced this week by the oil ministry.

Over 1.209 billion barrels of oil were exported, said the state-owned Iraqi News Agency reported, citing figures from deputy prime minister for energy affairs and minister of oil, Hayan Abdul-Ghani.

Most of the exports were to China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Greece, the US, the UK, France, Russia, Italy, Spain and other Arab countries.

In May 2022, oil minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar said Iraq would increase its crude oil production to eight million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2028. 

Its OPEC quota is set to rise to 4.5 million bpd in June as the group continues to compensate for the decline in Russian energy products, but Iraq’s potential is even greater.

Proven world reserves at nine percent

The US Energy Information Administration estimates that Iraq boasts some 145 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves, which is nine percent of world reserves and roughly 18 percent of Middle Eastern reserves.

The Nasiriyah and Gharraf oil fields in the Dhi Qar province are coming under the spotlight as Baghdad’s oil administrators look to boost production. 

The Nasiriyah field, boasting a potential 4.36 billion barrels, has long attracted the interest of international energy firms, but the last round of deals came to nothing because of Iraq’s precarious security situation, leading the government to order state-run firms to take charge of developments.

State-owned Iraqi Drilling Company started work on the first of 20 new oil wells at Nasiriyah mid-last year with support from Weatherford, an American drilling firm. The new wells are set to increase production by 40,000 bpd.