14-09-04

Iraq was producing more than 2.5 mm bpd of oil and exporting 2 mm, Iraqi Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban revealed.

The war-torn country was pumping "more than 2.5 mm" bpd and managing to export 80 % of that, the minister told as he arrived in Vienna for an OPEC meeting.

Repeated sabotage of Iraqi oil pipelines, particularly in its southern fields, has hampered exports and cost the country more than a billion dollars in revenue.

Iraq holds 11 % of the world's crude oil reserves but its output has been excluded from the OPEC's quota system since 1990 when the United Nations imposed sanctions on the country. Before that it was producing 3.14 mm bpd, on a par with Iran.

Source: Agence France Presse