Oil Ministry: Iraq's oil revenues drop

Iraqi Oil Ministry figures show the country’s oil revenues for the first three months of this year were down more than 50 percent compared with the same period in 2008.

First quarter revenues this year stood at about US$6.57 billion, with an average daily export level slightly over 1.8 million barrels.
That represents about a 57.6 percent decrease from the US$15.49 billion that Iraq earned from oil exports in the same period last year. During that period, the average oil exports level was just over 1.9 million barrels a day.

Iraq is struggling to boost its oil exports at a time when plummeting prices have forced the government to slash spending plans. Oil accounts for about 95 percent of Iraq’s revenue.

Export figures released Sunday showed oil exports inched up in March to 1.815 million barrels a day from 1.804 million barrels a day the month before, said Falah al-Amiri, the head of the state oil marketing organization.

Forbes