After Saudi Arabia, Iraq ranks second among the five oil-producing countries in the region - Urgent, 5 APRIL

  After Saudi Arabia, Iraq ranks second among the five oil-producing countries in the region - Urgent

BP statistics in the last two decades show that the tightening of sanctions against Iran and the increase in Iraqi oil sales have pushed Iraq to assume the position and market of Iranian oil in the region.

When talking about the Iranian economy, oil is considered one of the most important variables that must be examined. This black gold has affected the economy such that with the flood of its sales in global markets, the Iranian economy is witnessing great prosperity, and with the decline of its sales, it is on the path to recession.

Studies have previously pointed out the importance of oil revenues and the difference in oil sales statistics from three reliable sources, and the reason for this difference has been discussed in detail.

Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Qatar are leading countries in the oil industry in the region, similar to Iran. Today, if we want to see the performance of Iranian oil sales compared to these countries, we must take a look at the oil sales statistics and examine them carefully.

This report, prepared by the “Aquairan” economic website, reviews Iran’s share of oil sales in the past two decades.

Iraq is at the forefront

Oil statistics provided by British Petroleum (BP) show that since 2004, Iran has become the second oil exporting country among these five oil countries after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This year, Saudi Arabia’s oil exports reached 6 million and 800 thousand barrels per day, while it reached Iran's exports are 2 million and 700 thousand barrels.

At that time, Iraq was the fourth largest oil exporter among these countries and sold only 1.5 million barrels of oil per day.

Over time, Iran continued to maintain its position among these five countries until 2011, but Iraq's exports did not remain constant as was the case in Iran, but rather rose to reach 2 million and 400 barrels of oil per day.

In 2011, with the beginning of the series of oil sanctions on Iran, Iranian oil sales suddenly suffered a severe blow, and this blow continued, even after the nuclear agreement in 2015, as Iraq ranked second in the region and Iran fell to fourth.

The positive impact of the JCPOA on the Iranian oil market contributed to Iran’s oil export position rising by one point among the five countries and reaching third place in 2017, but this success was short-lived. With Trump's accession to American power and his withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, as well as the beginning of the Corona pandemic, Iran declined again in 2021, and ranked third with a daily export of 1.9 million barrels.

This comes at a time when, in that year, Iraq exported 3.4 million barrels of oil per day and ranked second after Saudi Arabia among the five oil-producing countries in the region.

The increase in Iraq's oil sales and the tightening of oil sanctions on Iran in these two decades caused a change in the position of Iran and Iraq in oil sales, and Iraq was able to seize second place.  link