Iraq hopes to boost '08 oil production
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Iraq expects to increase oil production this year to 2.7 million barrels a day and hopes to sign contracts to boost output from oil fields that aren't producing to capacity, Iraq's oil minister said.
Iraq's oil production is at its highest level since before Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in 2003, Hussein al-Shahristani said Thursday night on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual meeting.
"We have increased our production by 400,000 barrels a day over the last three months," he said. "This has been a very big increase ... from 1.9 million barrels a day. ... The 400,000-barrel increase has all gone to exports."
"In 2008, we expect another increase of similar size," Mr. al-Shahristani said.
Iraq's Oil Ministry said Thursday that output has soared from 1.9 million barrels per day in January 2006 to 2.4 million in November 2007 and inched up to 2.475 daily barrels last month.
The Iraqi minister said the recent rise in oil prices was not a result of a shortage of crude oil.
"On the contrary, there is as much crude oil on the market as people want," he said. "It has been gambling by speculators, just betting on the prices really, disregarding the fundamentals of the oil markets."
Oil prices have retreated from record levels of about $100 a barrel late last year on worries that a flagging U.S. economy would dampen fuel demand. Yesterday, light, sweet crude for March delivery rose $1.82 to $91.23 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on the oil market's view that worries about a U.S. recession may be overblown.
Mr. al-Shahristani will be participating in an "exceptional meeting" of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries next month in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the oil market situation.
"The recent rise in price, although you have noticed there's been a decline, was not really because of shortage of supply of crude oil in the market," he said.
"Therefore, there was no action that OPEC or any other producers could take really to balance the situation — just put in the market as much oil as the buyers need, and OPEC has done this," he said.