Iraq’s oil revenues down more than 70 pct. from February: Official

Iraq’s oil export revenues in March dropped more than 70 percent from February, an Iraqi official said Thursday, after the Middle East war disrupted the oil industry.

The director of Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO), Ali Nizar, said that in March the country “generated revenues of nearly 28 percent compared to the previous month of February.”

A founding member of the OPEC oil cartel, Iraq is hugely dependent on its oil exports and pre-war exported the majority of its crude through the strategic Strait of Hormuz — now all but shut by Iranian attacks and threats.