ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s oil ministry on Monday confirmed that production rates for petroleum products are meeting domestic demand, with output exceeding consumption by several thousand cubic meters per day.

“Production rates for petroleum products and LPG effectively meet domestic demand,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that available loading stocks have reached nearly 98,500 cubic meters and critical storage at 200,000 cubic meters.

It revealed that gasoline production levels reached over 32,400 cubic meters per day, while daily consumption stood around 29,000 cubic meters.

Iraq’s oil production and exports have been largely disrupted by restrictions on maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes and its most vital oil transit chokepoint, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The restrictions have halted exports from Iraq’s southern oil fields, which produce the majority of the country’s crude.

Baghdad sought alternative measures to resume oil exports, mainly eyeing exports of the country’s oil through the Kurdistan Region’s Ceyhan pipeline. The move was initially disputed but was later agreed to by Kurdish authorities.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced last Tuesday that Erbil and Baghdad had reached an agreement to export Iraqi oil through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

A day later, the North Oil Company (NOC) announced the resumption of Iraq’s oil exports via Turkey, through the Kurdistan Region’s pipeline, hailing it as a “significant achievement.”