Oil tankers seen at the Al-Basra Oil Terminal in Iraq, Photo: Samuel W. Shavers/Wikipedia
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraqi Oil Minister Bassim Khudair confirmed on Friday that oil exports will gradually return to their previous levels as oilfields throughout the country are prepared to resume operations.
Khudair told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that Iraqi oilfields are ready to restart operations; however, the return to regular operations would be gradual until output reaches previous levels.
Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will have a significant impact on Iraq's oil exports. Khudair indicated that the State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) has contacted all clients to start shipping Iraqi crude oil through the country's southern ports.
Iraq's crude oil shipments plummeted by 3.22 million barrels per day in May 2026, a loss of more than 97 percent, due to difficulties in maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz caused by the conflict with Iran.
Iraq's seaborne crude oil shipments fell to an average of 96,000 barrels per day, or three million barrels, in May 2026, compared to 3.32 million barrels per day, or 103 million barrels in the same month in 2025.
In May, the country's oil exports totaled three million barrels, which was much lower than the pre-war average of more than 3.3 million a day.
In April, oil export profits fell to $1.87 billion, a $5 billion reduction from pre-war levels.
Given Baghdad's near-complete reliance on oil revenues to fund public spending, this massive cash loss risks exacerbating the country's underlying fiscal imbalance.