The semiautonomous Kurdish government in Iraq said it increased direct oil sales in response to debts stemming from budget cuts imposed by Baghdad. The Kurdish government said the Turkish sea port of Ceyhan received an average 571,000 barrels of oil per day and an average 150,000 bpd was delivered to the federal State Oil Marketing Co. in June. The government said it increased direct oil sales because of “significant debt backlog arising from the budget cuts of 2014 imposed by the federal government, and the need to pay down debts accumulated in 2014 from pre-payments for oil sales.” Under the terms of an agreement reached in […]