Iraq 's crude oil exports in March were down by 5% to 2.417 million barrels a day on month, compared with 2.536 million barrels a day in February, according to people familiar with the State Oil Marketing Organization, or SOMO.

Bad weather in southern oil export terminals and a technical fault at a northern export pipeline had slowed Iraq 's March oil exports, they said Tuesday.

Iraq exported 2.102 million barrels a day from southern oil fields in March via exports terminals in the Gulf, compared with 2.194 million barrels a day the previous month, the people told Dow Jones Newswires.

Some 300,000 barrels a day were exported from northern oil fields to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in Turkey , compared with 327,000 barrels a day the previous month. Another 15,000 barrels a day were shipped by trucks to Jordan , a similar amount to the previous month.

Exports from a northern export pipeline, which carries crude from Iraq 's Kirkuk oil fields to Ceyhan, were resumed in the weekend after they were suspended for nearly five days due to a pipeline leak.

Iraq is targeting to export an average of 2.9 million barrels a day in 2013, but so far this year, the country hasn't reached even 2.5 million barrels a day.

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