Crude oil output target for Iraq is far away, says OPEC’s Badri

OPEC is unlikely to confer an oil output target on Iraq for several years to allow its industry to recover from decades of sanctions, war and neglect, OPEC’s secretary-general said at the weekend.

Unlike Opec’s 11 other members, Iraq, which desperately needs investment to boost output and repair infrastructure, is exempt from the group’s production target system.

“OPEC target levels will be discussed later. You are talking about another three to four years from now,” OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah Al Badri said in an interview during a visit to Nigeria’s capital Abuja. “Iraq doesn’t sign a contract today and produce oil tomorrow.”

International oil companies are close to reaching deals with the Iraqi government that would almost triple Iraq’s output capacity to 7m b/d from around 2.5m b/d and make it one of the world’s top oil producers.

Iraq has the world’s third largest oil reserves and pumps between 2.3m and 2.4m b/d, with an ambitious plan to nearly triple production in the next five years. It relies on oil exports almost exclusively to fill government coffers, needs to boost production urgently in order to pay for improvements to its woefully poor power and water infrastructure, along with a host of other reconstruction works.

Tags:  Iraq, OPEC