Iraq on track for 3 million barrels per day by the end of 2011 and targets 4 million barrels per day for 2012

1. Wall Street Journal – Iraq’s crude oil output Monday hit 2.9 million barrels a day, the highest level achieved since the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003, the country’s oil minister said in a statement.

Abdul Kareem Luaiby said he expects output to reach some 3 million barrels a day by the end of this year.

Iraq is expected to add some 900,000 barrels a day in export capacity from southern oil terminals by the end of this year when a new floating buoy is opened. Iraq is currently exporting some 1.7 million barrels a day from its southern Persian Gulf terminals.

Iraq has signed some 11 oil field deals with international companies over the last two years. If things go as agreed with these firms, Iraq’s oil output should reach at least 8 million barrels a day in 2018.

2. ‘By the end of 2012 I think it could be in the region of 3.5 to 4 million barrels per day,’ Ahmed Al-Shamma, Iraq’s deputy oil minister said in an interview.

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