Iraq Oil Ministry clarifies September crude exports average 2.6M bpd

The Iraqi Ministry of Oil. Photo: INA Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraq’s Ministry of Oil clarified on Monday, September 21, 2026, that the country’s daily crude export average for September stands at approximately 2.6 million barrels per day, refuting recent media reports suggesting that export volumes had surged to 4 million barrels per day. In an official statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), the ministry explained that the four-million-barrel figure was an exceptional single-day peak rather than a sustainable daily benchmark, resulting from a confluence of scheduled tanker loadings occurring simultaneously. The ministry noted that the isolated spike occurred when the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) executed an offshore lift outside the Strait of Hormuz carrying Qayyarah heavy crude, coinciding with scheduled vessel liftings from southern maritime export terminals and northern outlet shipments aggregated into commercially viable tanker parcels. Officials emphasized that daily tanker movements naturally fluctuate based on maritime loading schedules, vessel laycans, and parcel batching, which can periodically create transient volumetric spikes that do not reflect normalized monthly baselines. The Oil Ministry underlined that maintaining an average export rate of roughly 2.6 million barrels per day through late September represents a major operational achievement under prevailing geopolitical and logistics headwinds, most notably the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Authorities reiterated that energy logistics teams remain focused on sustaining export continuity through diversified operational corridors, aiming to maximize petroleum sales and secure vital foreign exchange revenues for the federal treasury amid tight liquidity constraints.