Iraq Exports over 438,000 Tons of Gas Condensate in 2022

“As of the first day of this December, the company has exported 27 shipments, of gas condensate, amounting to 438,000 tons,” director of the commercial body in the Basra Gas Company affiliated with the ministry, Sultan Al-Maliki told Iraqi state media.

Maliki added that the company aims to export three extra shipments in December, each accounting for 16,000 tons of gas condensate.

The Iraqi government is dependent on oil revenues to cover its costs and pay the salaries of civil servants. Despite suffering in much of 2021 due to record low oil prices, the country's economy is once again on the rise as oil prices are increasing globally.

However, the country has never been a strong global competitor in gas exports. Instead, the country has for a long time relied strongly on imports of gas, mainly from Iran, to provide electricity for people.

Fromer Iraqi Finance Minister Ali Allawi in June said that addressed the country’s current financial situation, dreading the consequences of the overreliance on exporting oil as a source of income.

“Can we afford to be constantly pumping out oil into a global market where the structure is working against us, even though not in the short term? My answer is no,” Allawi said at the time, adding “we have to seriously think about shifting our capital investment while sustaining the oil production as it is but shifting into value added. Iraq must not become an oil exporter only. It must become an energy exporter.”

But the export of other forms of energy has not affected the country’s oil exports.

The country suffers from chronic electricity shortages, especially felt when summer temperatures reach over 50 degrees Celsius. The high temperatures also lead to very high consumption of power, and gas imports seem to remain a necessity for Iraq, who pays for it through revenue collected through oil sales.

In November, Iraq earned nearly a billion dollars less in oil revenues than it did in October, as the country exported over 99 million barrels of crude oil at an average rate of 3.3 million barrels a day with each barrel selling for $82.4. The country’s total revenue was over $8.2 billion, which fell nearly a billion short of October’s $9.25 billion revenue.

4155/v