Oil Production in Iraq’s Kirkuk Jumps To 360,000 Bpd

Iraqi state-run North Oil Company (NOC) has boosted its crude oil production from the Kirkuk governorate to above 360,000 barrels per day (bpd), a company source told Shafaq News Agency on Friday.

North Oil Company (NOC), whose origins date back to the setting-up of Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) in Kirkuk in 1929, looks to further raise oil production in Kirkuk to 400,000 bpd by the end of 2024, according to the news agency’s source.   

“This increase is expected following the development and rehabilitation of several oil wells in NOC-affiliated fields by the Iraqi Drilling Company,” the source told Shafaq News Agency.

A total of 150,000 bpd of the current production in Kirkuk is being delivered to government refineries in Baiji and Dora, while another 100,000 bpd is earmarked for other refineries as specified by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. The remainder is managed according to the company’s requirements, according to the source.

Meanwhile, the Iraq-Kurdistan standoff continues and oil exports from the semi-autonomous region of OPEC’s second-largest producer continue to be shut-in.

Oil companies operating in Kurdistan refuse to amend their contracts with the region, which has led to an impasse in the talks about resuming oil exports from Kurdistan, the Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, said in May.

Crude oil exports from Kurdistan have now been halted for more than a year, after they were shut in in March 2023 due to a dispute over who should authorize the Kurdish exports.

In November 2023, Norwegian firm DNO, one of the six members of the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR), said that the international oil companies operating in Kurdistan would not be producing oil for exports until they have clarity about overdue and future payments and sales terms.

In January this year, the foreign companies called on U.S. Congress for immediate action to help resolve halted crude oil exports from Kurdistan. APIKUR has written a letter to Congress in which it said “The export of oil is the foundation of Iraq’s economy, and all Iraqis will benefit when full production and global sales resume from the Kurdistan Region.”

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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