Oil exports to U.S. from Iraq soar 30.5% in first half of 2023: Report

Iraq trails only Saudi Arabia as the largest producer of oil in OPEC.

Published: August 10, 2023 3:52pm

Through the first five months of 2023, Iraq’s oil exports to the United States jumped by 30.5%, according to Shafaq news site, citing data from the US Energy Information Administration.

The Iraqi outlet said that from January to May, the U.S. received a total of 55.4 million oil barrels from the country, a 30.5% increase from 38.4 million barrels from that same period last year, and a whopping 61% increase from that timeframe in 2021.

Data from the EIA shows America exceeded double-digit imports from Iraq each of the first five months of 2023, which hasn’t happened since 2018, when the five-month average was over 20,800 barrels per month. Since then, imports from Iraq are down nearly 47% and averaged just over 11,000 barrels per month in the aforementioned period.

Oil is a major contributor to Iraq's economy. Crude exports represented 92% of total government revenue in 2019.

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