Iraqi PM Expresses Desire To Increase Crude Oil Exports

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BAGHDAD, Sept 6 (KUNA) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Al-Soudani on Saturday expressed the desire to increase his nation's quota of crude oil exports within OPEC urging other oil-producing countries to understand Baghdad's need in this respect.
Al-Soudani, addressing the International Baghdad Energy Forum, said Iraq's oil reserves stand at 150 billion barrels, adding that his country would be able to supply the international market for 120 years.
The exporting capacity does not match the reserves volume, the output capacity and the population size, he said further.
He has stopped short of mentioning Iraq's quota of crude exports within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but media reports show that it is in the range of 3.38 million barrels per day.
Elaborating, the prime minister expressed readiness to host companies willing to invest in the Iraqi oil and gas sectors, pledging preferential incentives for conglomerates "according to the country's higher interests."
By 2030, he said, 40 percent Iraq's oil exports will be transformed into derivatives, indicating that relevant ventures are already underway to attain this purpose.
Iraq is determined to diversify its oil products with emphasis on "increasing the production," he said explicitly, revealing that Baghdad had held talks with Syria to reopen the old pipeline "as one of the options to diversify the exporting means." (end)
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