Russian crude output hits monthly record amid plunging prices

Russia's crude output set another post-Soviet record in December, a sign that the nation's producers are withstanding the slump in oil prices, according to Energy Ministry data.

The country's crude and gas condensate production increased to 10.825 million barrels a day last month, beating the previous record set in November by 0.4 per cent, Bloomberg calculations based on the data show.

Output for the year increased 1.4 per cent compared with 2014, exceeding 534 million metric tons, or almost 10.726 million barrels a day, according to the preliminary information e-mailed from Energy Ministry's CDU-TEK unit.

Russian crude producers have been setting post-Soviet records even amid plunging prices and US and European Union sanctions that cut access to foreign financing and technology. The companies have managed to squeeze more crude out of some aging fields in West Siberia and brought a few mid-sized new projects on line.

Iraq says it exported more than 1 billion barrels of oil in 2015

Iraq said it exported 1.097 billion barrels of oil in 2015, generating $49.079 billion from sales, according to the oil ministry. It sold 99.7 million barrels of oil in December, generating $2.973 billion, after selling a record 100.9 million barrels in November, said oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad. The country sold at an average price of $44.74 a barrel in 2015, Jihad said.

Iraq, with the world's fifth-biggest oil reserves, needs to keep increasing crude output because lower oil prices have curbed government revenue. Oil prices have slumped in the past year as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries defended market share against production in the US.

OPEC's second-largest crude producer is facing a slowdown in investment due to lower oil prices while fighting a costly war on Islamist militants who seized a swath of the country's northwest.

The nation's output will start to decline in 2018, Morgan Stanley said in a September 2 report, reversing its forecast for higher production every year to 2020.