Deputy head of Iraq's State Organization for Marketing of Oil Ali Nizar quoted by Reuters stated that Iraq was already planning crude oil shipments for March due to high demand.
According to Bloomberg, Ali Nizar also told the media that oil exports from Iraq had been stable that month and would be slightly higher the following month.
SOMO Deputy Director General said that in January the average daily export volume was expected to be 3.2 million bpd. Besides, it will probably rise to 3.3 million bpd in February.
This is data for Iraq, not including the exports of 340,000 bpd from the Kurdistan Autonomous Region.
Asked about oil prices, a SOMO spokesman declined to give an accurate forecast. He stated that it was too early to say whether benchmark oil would reach the $100 a barrel level.
However, last week Reuters reported that some members in OPEC believed that oil could reach and even exceed $100 a barrel. Sustained demand and limited supply due to the cartel's limited spare capacity will be the drivers of ongoing rally.
Brent crude oil traded at $100 or higher eight years ago. Brent crude oil reached $110 a barrel during that cycle before falling below $50 in January 2015. Currently, oil prices have consolidated above last year's high.
According to OPEC, there will be increasing pressure on oil prices in the next two months. It may be close to $100, however, it will not be stable.
OPEC has been falling short of its own production targets for several months in a row due to various restrictions. In December, the cartel reported a production increase of only 170,000 bpd. At that time, its production increase quota was 253,000 bpd, according to the OPEC+ production control agreement, which provides for an expanded cartel production increase of 400,000 bpd.