Sumo: 60% of Iraq's oil exports are going to Asian markets

Sumo: 60% of Iraq's oil exports are going to Asian markets



Oil worker in southern Iraq
 
18/03/2018

Economy News Baghdad:

The head of oil marketing company "Sumo" said on Sunday that he expected oil prices to remain stable at current levels over the entire 2018 period.

"The stability of the price of oil depends on political stability in the region," Alaa al-Yasiri told reporters during a meeting in Sumo, Baghdad.

Yasiri said Iraq would sign joint ventures with Asian companies from China, India and South Korea as part of targeting the continent's markets.

He added that 60 percent of Iraqi oil exports are going to Asian markets.

Among the many deals announced by Yasiri on Sunday was a profit-sharing agreement with China's Chenhua to help market Iraqi crude at Chinese refineries.

He said the agreement with the Chinese company is only a starting point that will pave the way for further agreements and joint ventures with other Asian companies from Japan, China and Korea.

Iraq has signed long-term contracts to supply crude to large Indian energy companies including Reliance to remain a major supplier of crude to India in 2018, Sumo said.

He explained that the delay in the shipment of Kirkuk crude to Iran is due to the contracting procedures related to the selection of trucking companies and not to security concerns, adding that the Ministry of Oil will soon choose four local shipping companies to start the transfer of 40,000 barrels per day in principle to Iran.

And the exports of Kirkuk fields stalled in light of the dispute between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government on the use of a pipeline to export crude to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Iraq is OPEC's second largest producer and depends on oil for most of its budget revenues.

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