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Iraq's Crude Exports Hit 2017 High Before OPEC Cuts Extension

  • May exports exceed those in October, baseline month for cuts
  • Iraq agreed to extend its own output reductions to March 2018
A worker walks between pipes at the oil and gas separation facility at the Baba Gurgur oil field in the Arafa district of Kirkuk, northern Iraq, on May 13, 2004.

A worker walks between pipes at the oil and gas separation facility at the Baba Gurgur oil field in the Arafa district of Kirkuk, northern Iraq, on May 13, 2004.

Photographer: Staton R Winter/Bloomberg

Oil tankers shipped the most crude from Iraq in six months in May, when OPEC’s second-biggest producer was negotiating with the group’s other members to persist with supply constraints to shore up the global market.

Tankers loaded 122 million barrels of Iraqi crude at ports in the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea last month, according to vessel-tracking and shipping agent data gathered by Bloomberg. The daily outflow of 3.93 million barrels was just shy of the record, set in November, and exceeded that of October, the baseline month for cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.