Iraqi oil production continues to rise sharply

The aimless sideways trading on the oil market continues: prices climbed by just shy of 2% yesterday and are shedding some of these gains again today. Brent is trading at below $48 per barrel again, while WTI is priced at under $45 per barrel, notes Commerzbank.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), generated confusion yesterday. First, he was cited in an Austrian newspaper as saying that he expects to see an oil price of $45 per barrel for quite some time. This statement was later denied by the IEA, however, though Birol's remark that the oil price would remain low for some quarters to come was left standing.

This is not really surprising in view of the continuing oversupply, to which Iraq in particular is contributing. According to the Iraqi oil minister, the country produced 3.912 million barrels of crude per day in September, which is 576,000 barrels per day more than a year ago. As a result, Iraq's share of global oil production grew from 3.6% to 4.6%.