Iraq is targeting to export 1.9 million barrels a day of Basra Light and Kirkuk crude oil in the first half of 2009, a senior Iraqi oil official said Wednesday.
Iraq's crude oil exports had fallen to an average of 1.7 million barrels a day over the last three months from 1.8 million to 1.9 million barrels a day for the first eight months of this year.
"We have signed term contracts with companies to sell 2.1 million barrels a day for the first half of 2009, but actually we cannot sell more than 1.9 million barrels a day," the official told Dow Jones Newswires.
He said that they signed term contracts to sell more than what Iraq could actually sell in case some lifters cancel their purchases.
Iraq can sell a maximum of 1.55 million barrels a day from its southern oil fields and some 350,000 barrels a day from northern oil fields, he added.