Iraq Oil Production Surges to Near-Record Highs in August

Iraq's oil production surged to nearly 3.5 million barrels per day in August, up from almost 700,000 bpd from July.

The increase was largely driven by a recovery in southern export volumes, which helped unlock stranded upstream capacity.

Production at fields managed by the federal government averaged about 3.27 million bpd in August, up from 2.64 million bpd in July.

Most of the increase came from fields in Basra, which combined for about 2.13 million bpd, up from 1.62 million bpd the prior month.