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Iraq oil production back above 2.5 million barrels a day: minister
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 06 26 06
Iraq's oil production is now over 2.5 million barrels a day, a record since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the country's oil minister said Sunday.
Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said on US television that Iraq hoped to be producing 4.3 million barrels by 2010 and to be challenging Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer by 2015.
Production was about 2.5 million dollars a day when President Saddam Hussein was deposed by US-led forces in 2003. It then collapsed to virtually nothing and has been slow to rebuild because of insurgent attacks and other problems.
In an interview with CNN television, Shahristani emphasized that only one month and three days after the Iraqi government took office "we have been able to break a record".
"Today's oil production was in excess of 2.5 million barrel a day. And that's a record since the fall of Saddam's regime in April 2003," he told CNN's "Late Edition" programme.
He said Iraq hoped to increase production to 2.6-2.7 million barrels by the end of the year, to 4.3 million barrels by 2010, which would be a new all-time record for Iraq. The minister said Iraq's highest oil production was 3.5 million barrels a day.
"Our ultimate aim is to reach more than six million barrels a day, hopefully by 2012.
"And needless to say, Iraq holds one of the largest reserves of oil and gas in the world, and we are determined to prove it has the largest world reserve."
The oil minister said that by 2015, Iraq could challenge Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer.
AFP 21711 GMT 06 06
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