Iraq is targeting to export between 1.880 million and 1.950 million barrels a day of Basra light crude and Kirkuk crude oil in the second half of 2009, the head of the country's State Oil Marketing Organization said.
Iraq's crude oil exports during the first five months of 2009 have averaged 1.846 million barrels a day, according to figures released by SOMO.
Falah Alamri said that some 1.430 million to 1.450 million barrels a day are expected to be sold via the southern Basra export terminal in the Arabian Gulf. While the remaining 450,000 to 500,000 barrels a day will be exported via the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.
"We have signed term contracts with companies to sell around 2.35 million barrels a day for the second half of 2009," Falah Alamri told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview late Tuesday. The difference between signed term contracts and how much Iraq is expected to sell is because that some companies might not buy all the quantities they ask for, he said.