BAGHDAD (Dispatches) -- Iraq’s oil exports have risen above 3.4 million barrels per day this month, recovering to near pre-war levels after months of disruption caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Oil Minister Basim Muhammad Khudair said on Monday.
Exports averaged about 3.0 million bpd in September before climbing to more than 3.4 million bpd in October, Khudair told the state-run Iraqi News Agency. The current volume compares with roughly 3.7 million bpd exported before the war.
Crude is now being shipped through three routes: the Strait of Hormuz, Turkey’s Ceyhan port, and tanker trucks via Syria, Khudair said. The State Organization for Marketing of Oil has been operating around the clock to boost volumes, he added.
The recovery follows a severe contraction after the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began on February 28, when restrictions on Hormuz shipping cut Iraq’s main export artery. 
Exports plunged from more than 99 million barrels in February to 18.6 million barrels in March. Baghdad subsequently resumed Kirkuk crude shipments through the Kurdistan Region to Ceyhan in mid-March and introduced new sales arrangements shifting shipping risks to buyers.
The disruption has been costly. Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said last week that Iraq lost approximately $60 billion during the war, while foreign currency reserves shrank by $20 billion and consumer prices rose sharply. 
The Central Bank of Iraq devalued the dinar against the dollar for the first time in more than three years to contain the fallout.
Oil provides about 90 percent of Iraq’s public revenues, leaving the state highly exposed to export disruptions.
Also on Monday, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met with British National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell to discuss regional developments and bilateral cooperation, according to the Qatari News Agency. 
Separately, Iraq’s anti-drug forces announced the seizure of 50 kilograms of Captagon pills and the arrest of a dealer in the Kurdistan region.