OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq, more than doubled its crude oil exports via the Strait of Hormuz in August as it offered month-watering discounts for loadings at Basrah in the Persian Gulf and Iran allowed Iraqi oil cargoes to transit the chokepoint.
Iraqi oil exports jumped to some 2.34 million barrels per day (bpd) in August from 1.35 million bpd in July, two Iraqi energy officials told Reuters, in data consistent with estimates of vessel-tracking firms Vortexa and Kpler, who see Iraq’s oil shipments at between 2.2 million bpd…