Iraq 's crude oil exports from the beginning of this year to Oct. 20 were 1.876 million barrels a day, down 1.6% from the average the previous year, according to figures prepared by State Oil Marketing Organization, or SOMO.

SOMO figures, seen by Dow Jones Newswires late Thursday, showed that some 1,463 million barrels a day have been so far exported via the southern Basra export terminal, while 403,000 barrels a day were exported via the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan .

Some 10,000 barrels a day were transported on trucks to Jordan .

The decrease in Iraq 's 2010 exports from 2009 was because northern Kirkuk oil exports to Ceyhan port have been reduced due to a combination of technical problems, and sabotage attacks on the 970-kilometer export pipeline over the last few months. Also, some of the fields in southern Iraq are suffering from output decline.

Last month, Iraq exported 2.02 million barrels a day, the highest level reached this year. But exports went down to as low as 1.7 million barrels a day in August.

Falah Alamri, head of SOMO, hopes Iraq will be able to keep the September level for the rest of this year. The Iraqi oil marketing company hopes to export at least 2.1 million barrels a day next year, he said.

Baghdad hopes that some 11 mega deals awarded to international oil companies over the last 10 months, particularly in southern oil fields such as Rumaila, the country's biggest, can reverse an alarming drop in output of Basra Light crude. BP PLC (BP) and China National Petroleum Corp., are implementing a pilot project to almost triple output from the field.

Iraqi officials said BP/CNPC would increase output from Rumaila by 10% next month. The field is currently producing over a million barrels a day.

Alamri estimated Iraq 's crude oil production to reach around four million barrels a day in 2013 from 2.4 million barrels a day now.

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