BASRA, Iraq  - Crude oil exports from Iraq's southern ports on the Gulf have averaged 3.33 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, two oil officials told Reuters on Monday.

Iraq exported 3.254 million bpd from its southern Basra terminals in March, as poor weather interrupted loadings and producer group OPEC continued to cut supplies.

"We have to keep production in line with the OPEC cut deal," said one oil official with knowledge of crude production operations in the south.

The bulk of Iraq's oil is exported via southern terminals, which account for more than 95 percent of the country's state revenue.

Iraq's oil minister said last week that his country had the capacity to increase its oil production to 6 million bpd if needed, but it was committed to OPEC-led output cuts and would not take unilateral action to boost supply.

OPEC, Russia and other non-members — an alliance known as OPEC+ — agreed in December to reduce supply by 1.2 million bpd from January 1. Under the OPEC-led deal, Iraq agreed to cut production by 141,000 bpd to 4.512 million bpd.

 

(Reporting by Aref Mohammed; writing by Ahmed Rasheed; editing by Jason Neely) ((ahmed.rasheed@thomsonreuters.com; +964-7901-947-131; Reuters Messaging: ahmed.rasheed.thomsonreuters.com@thomsonreuters.net))