Iraq's daily oil exports rise to 2.34 million barrels in August

TEHRAN, Iran — Iraq's daily crude oil exports rose to roughly 2.34 million barrels in August, well above the 1.35 million barrels recorded in July, according to preliminary tracking data from Fortexa and Kepler. The two firms put August exports at 2.3 million and 2.17 million barrels respectively, both still below pre-war levels of around 3.7 million barrels (Fortexa) and 3.362 million barrels (Kepler) seen before February. Sparta commodity analyst Jon Goh said Iraq had offered steep discounts to draw buyers toward alternative shipping options. State oil marketer SOMO priced August loadings from the Basra terminal at $25–$30 per barrel below benchmark, a level that drew interest from Chinese state firms PetroChina and Zhenhua Oil as well as global buyers including TotalEnergies, Vitol, Trafigura, Mercuria and Cathay Petroleum. Iran's IRNA news agency earlier reported that Tehran had granted passage to certain Iraqi oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters reported that SOMO's discount strategy produced a profit margin of roughly $10 per barrel on a free-on-board basis.