Iran’s especially high oil production in July lead to a total amount of 25.215 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude production by OPEC countries, according to AFP news agency on Sunday, August 19. This figure represents almost a one-percent rise in comparison to June’s production of 24.999 million bpd.
The 11-year embargo imposed on Iraq has excluded the country from being an OPEC member, and therefore July’s figure does not take into account Iraq’s production.
In protest of a US-backed British plan to enforce “smart” sanctions on Iraq, on June 4th Iraq suspended its crude shipments of 2.2 million barrels a day for a period of five weeks.
Following an agreement with the United Nations on conditions for a 150-day extension of the oil-for-food program, Iraq resumed its oil shipments on July 10. The program allows Iraq to export crude from which revenues are used to pay for essential goods for its 22-million population.
Iraq’s crude production more than doubled in mid-July and reached 2.03 million bpd, relative to its usual production of 0.84 bpd. Of this amount, Iraq exported 1.43 million bpd and the remaining was kept for domestic use.
Since April 1, the agreed OPEC quota allocation stands at 24.201 million bpd. — (Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
