Amman (Platts)--16Jul2009

Iraq's total oil exports in June rose to 1.925 million b/d, up 19,000 b/d
from May and the highest rate since June 2008 as exports from northern fields
registered the highest level since the 2003 US-led war, oil ministry figures
obtained by Platts Thursday showed.

Exports from northern fields rose to 528,000 b/d in June, a post-war
record and 7,000 b/d higher than May exports.

The ministry did not say if the figure for the north included exports
from the Tawke and Taq Taq fields in Iraqi Kurdistan, which began exporting
crude oil on June 1.

However, overall exports remain below the 2.011 million b/d achieved in
May 2008, which was a post-war high.

Iraq's total crude oil production also rose in June, to 2.493 million
b/d, up 21,000 b/d from May and the highest since August 2008, when total
production topped 2.5 million b/d.

The rise in production in recent months has been due mainly to higher
output from northern fields centered around the giant Kirkuk field, which
produced 699,000 b/d, 14,000 b/d below the May figure but still the second
highest rate since March 2003.

The rise is due mainly to the resumption of operations at a major
degassing station in the Kirkuk field after the evacuation of Kurdish
squatters who have occupied it since the 2003 war, informed sources told
Platts.

Northern output, however, is still well below the 870,000 b/d produced in
February 2003, a month before the US-led invasion.

Production from southern oil fields rose slightly to 1.794 million b/d
from 1.759 million b/d in May.

Although this increase is a continuation of the recent improvement in
production from the south, the rate achieved is still 161,000 b/d below the
1.955 million b/d produced in July last year.

The steep decline in production from southern fields since last July lies
behind recent escalation in criticism of oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani
and led to his summons by parliament to answer questions about oil policy.

Exports from the south, which still account for the bulk of total Iraqi
oil sales, rose to 1.397 million b/d in June from 1.385 million b/d in May . A
total of 41.915 million barrels was loaded on to 25 tankers from the Persian
Gulf al-Basrah terminal.

In the north, a total of 22 tankers loaded 14.839 million barrels from
the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, 695,000 barrels were supplied by
pipeline to the Turkish refinery at Kirikkalle and 300,000 b/d were exported
by road tankers to Jordan.

The official figures did not give a breakdown for exports or say how much
of the total was from Taq Taq and Tawke oil fields, which were supposed to
export crude via the northern pipeline to Ceyhan at an initial rate of 40,0000
b/d each. Neither the Kurdish authorities nor the field's operators, Norwegian
DNO and Addax Petroleum have given exact export volumes following the official
inauguration on June 1.

Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organization is handling all exports from the
north with revenues going to the treasury for disbursement later to the
provinces.

The oil ministry has been under pressure to raise production and increase
revenues in the face of production declines from the south and lower
international oil prices, another grievance directed at Shahristani.

Internal supply rates to local refineries and power stations totaled
461,000 b/d in June compared with 580,000 b/d in May. Supply from the north
was 170,000 b/d in June compared with 267,000 b/d in May, and 291,000 b/d from
the south, down from 313,000 b/d in May.

Unaccounted for oil in the south in June--a figure obtained by
subtracting total southern exports and internal supply from southern
production and adjusting for the slight increase in local stock levels--was
calculated by Platts at 104,000 b/d last month compared with 98,000 b/d in
May.

It is the presence of these discrepancies in the figures that have fueled
allegations of widespread smuggling and corruption within the Iraqi crude oil
sector, a subject that has been taken up repeatedly by monitoring agencies,
both national and international.
--Faleh al-Khayat, newsdesk@platts.com