ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq closed 2023 with $8.3 billion in December oil revenue, the country’s oil ministry announced on Wednesday.

Iraq’s oil ministry announced that the country had earned $8.3 billion selling 108 million barrels of crude in December.

The statement from the ministry set the average price of a barrel at $76.96 throughout the month. 

Iraq uses oil as its main source of income and the country uses money earned from selling oil to make up the majority of its annual budget.

The country’s December oil revenue is the lowest Iraq has recorded in the second half of 2023. Iraq’s national oil company in December announced that they had sold 8.48 billion dollars worth of oil in November, marking the first decrease in Baghdad’s oil revenue since June.

The global price of crude directly affects how much money Baghdad makes selling its oil, and with global Brent prices coming down to $75.69 on Wednesday, the country might make less in January than it did in December if crude price stabilizes at its current rate.

Iraq made over $115 billion in 2022, increasing its oil revenue by around $40 billion from the previous year. 

The country’s oil revenue has suffered a large blow in 2023 due to unresolved issues between Baghdad and Erbil.

The revenue of around 400,000 barrels per day has been lost since March after exports of the Kurdistan Region’s oil was halted through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying Turkey had breached an old agreement by allowing the Kurdistan Region to start independent oil export.

According to Iraq’s 2023 federal budget, the Kurdistan Regional Government is obliged to sell its 400,000 barrels through Iraq’s national oil marketing company (SOMO). However despite the KRG claiming to have held up their end of the agreement, their inability to resume exports through the Turkish pipeline has damaged both Iraq’s oil revenue and the KRG’s ability to pay its civil servants on time and in full due to Baghdad refusing to send the Region’s share of the federal budget.