The Iraqi Parliament had approved changes to the budget law
Oil sees weekly fall on Iraqi oil resumption, Russia-Ukraine peace hopes
Oil prices are set to fall for the week ending February 28, following reports that the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) will resume exports through Türkiye's Ceyhan port within hours, along with hopes for a peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine.
The International benchmark Brent crude traded at $72.73 per barrel at 2.33 p.m. local time (1133 GMT) on Friday, down by around 1.6% relative to the closing price of $73.90 a barrel last week.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the American benchmark, traded at $69.27 a barrel at the same time on Friday, a fall of about 1.3% from last Friday's $70.20 per barrel close.
Prices eased Friday after Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani said oil exports, starting at 185,000 barrels per day, would gradually increase to the level set in the federal budget.
On Sunday, Iraqi Deputy Oil Minister Basim Mohammed Khudhair said the planned export volume would gradually be increased to 400,000 barrels.
The Iraqi Parliament had also approved changes to the budget law, setting the cost of extracting and transporting each barrel of oil from the Kurdish Regional Government at $16.
Resumed Iraqi oil exports via the Ceyhan Port could ease supply concerns and put downward pressure on oil prices, according to experts.
Meanwhile, Russian and US delegations met for six and a half hours at the US Consulate General's residence in Istanbul to discuss the operation of their respective embassies as part of the two countries' normalization of relations.
