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Iraq oil output above two million bpd and rising: Official
Baghdad, Nov 25: Iraq`s crude oil production has climbed to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) and by next March could reach the 2.8 million bpd level of before the US-led invasion, a top Iraqi oil official said.
Baghdad, Nov 25: Iraq's crude oil production has
climbed to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) and by next March
could reach the 2.8 million bpd level of before the US-led
invasion, a top Iraqi oil official said.
"Production is around 2.2 million bpd of which 1.6
million bpd are exported," state oil marketing organisation
(SOMO) director Shamkhi Faraj told reporters late yesterday.
"Hopefully, we shall keep on increasing production, our plan is to reach the pre-war sustainable production level of 2.8 million bpd by the end of March 2004, and God willing, before then," he said.
Exports would rise in parallel from their current level to between two and 2.1 million bpd in March, he said.
Most of Iraq's output is coming from the southern oilfields which are producing currently 1.7 million bpd and providing the totality of exports, transiting from the offshore terminal of Basra, on the Gulf, he said.
Production in the northern oilfields around Kirkuk is crippled by bomb attacks on pipelines and other facilities, blamed by the US-led coalition on loyalists of toppled president Saddam Hussein and Islamic militants.
Faraj said output from the north is running at 500,000 bpd, but the crude oil pumped out was mainly re-injected in the fields after extracting the gas associated with it to supply the domestic market.
He said most of the increase in production anticipated before march will come from the southern fields. "We hope production from the south will reach 2.2 million bpd in February," he said.
Bureau Report
"Hopefully, we shall keep on increasing production, our plan is to reach the pre-war sustainable production level of 2.8 million bpd by the end of March 2004, and God willing, before then," he said.
Exports would rise in parallel from their current level to between two and 2.1 million bpd in March, he said.
Most of Iraq's output is coming from the southern oilfields which are producing currently 1.7 million bpd and providing the totality of exports, transiting from the offshore terminal of Basra, on the Gulf, he said.
Production in the northern oilfields around Kirkuk is crippled by bomb attacks on pipelines and other facilities, blamed by the US-led coalition on loyalists of toppled president Saddam Hussein and Islamic militants.
Faraj said output from the north is running at 500,000 bpd, but the crude oil pumped out was mainly re-injected in the fields after extracting the gas associated with it to supply the domestic market.
He said most of the increase in production anticipated before march will come from the southern fields. "We hope production from the south will reach 2.2 million bpd in February," he said.
Bureau Report