Iraq exported in May 2.11 million barrels of oil a day, the highest export level since the March 2003 U.S.-led war in Iraq and an increase on the 1.90 million barrels a day exported in April, head of the State Oil Marketing Organization, or SOMO, said.
Iraq exported a total of 62.34 million barrels from southern and northern oil fields in May, up from 57.10 million barrels exported in the previous month, Faleh Alamri told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone from Baghdad on Sunday night.
Some 1.67 million barrels a day were exported from Iraq's southern terminals in May, compared with 1.46 million barrels a day in April, he said. Some 440,000 barrels a day were exported through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, more or less the same amount as in the previous month, the SOMO chief added.
The government blamed a decline in southern exports in April on clashes with Shiite militias during a crackdown in the southern oil port of Basra in early April. It said the fighting damaged pipelines and forced the closure of some units.
Exports from southern terminals resumed normally in May as better security in Basra maintained, it said.