Iraq hiked August oil output, missed southern export targets

By Rowena Edwards

LONDON (Reuters) -Iraq's crude oil output was 67,000 barrels per day (bpd) higher in August than July but exports from the south of the country continued to be constrained by delays to infrastructure upgrades, data from state-owned marketer SOMO showed.

Iraq produced 4.651 million bpd of crude in August, in line with its quota under an OPEC+ deal, the data seen by Reuters showed, but exports fell by 62,000 bpd, so the extra August supply went into Iraq's storage tanks and internal consumption.

Exports from Iraq's southern Basra province failed to offset a 45,000 bpd decline in shipments from Iraq's Kurdistan region, rising by just 25,000 bpd from July to 3.25 million bpd in August.

Iraq's bid to boost oil export capacity at its Gulf ports has faced setbacks because of delays in pumping station upgrades.

State-owned Basrah Oil Co (BOC) planned to increase southern export capacity to 3.35 million bpd in August and to 3.45 mln bpd by September, from about 3.3 million bpd.

The new target came after BOC missed a deadline to reach export capacity of 3.45 million bpd in the second quarter.

(Reporting by Rowena Edwards; Editing by Edmund Blair)