IRAQ: New Iraqi oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi plans boost in oil and gas production

Record ID: 344080

  • Title: IRAQ: New Iraqi oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi plans boost in oil and gas production
  • Date: 28th December 2010
  • Summary: SHAHRISTANI HANDING FOLDED IRAQI FLAG TO LUAIBI/ LUAIBI KISSING FLAG SHAHRISTANI SHAKING HANDS WITH LUAIBI BAND PLAYING IRAQ'S NATIONAL ANTHEM BOUQUET OF FLOWERS BEING HANDED TO LUAIBI IRAQI OFFICIALS SHAKING HANDS WITH SHAHRISTANI AND LUAIBI AUDIENCE STANDING AS BAND PLAYS IRAQ'S NATIONAL ANTHEM
  • Embargoed: 12th January 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq, Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVAB1PVUDTENUVXV78B8392M3RR5
  • Story Text: At a formal handover ceremony on Monday (December 27) Hussain al-Shahristani formally presented an Iraqi flag to his successor as Iraqi oil minister, Abdul Kareem Luaibi, who was appointed to the post last week.
    During an official ceremony held at the oil ministry headquarters in Baghdad, Luaibi said he has many plans to develop the work of the ministry and in particular to rehabilitate the nation's oil and gas infrastructure and to support oil companies.
    "The next phase of our work will see rehabilitation of infrastructure for the oil sector in line with the increase of production from oil fields, as projects of increasing export and storage capacity, extending oil and gas pipelines and work on the best investment of gas associated with the petroleum operations. We will move forward to support the oil companies which won in the three round biddings and provide the appropriate investment ground for the oil sector," said Luaibi.
    Iraq sits upon some of the world's largest oil reserves but has struggled to push output close to the 3 million barrels per day it produced in the late 1980s before it invaded Kuwait.
    Lingering insecurity and months of political limbo have delayed much-needed upgrades to the war-ravaged country's oilfields and export pipelines.
    Luaibi said that the country's oil production currently exceeded 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd), the first time it had reached that level in 20 years.
    On Saturday (December 25) Luaibi said Iraq aimed to raise oil output to 3 million barrels per day by the end of 2011.
    Luaibi said on Friday that Iraq was on track to raise output capacity to 12 million bpd in six to seven years' time.
    Sceptical analysts say 6-7 million bpd is a more realistic target.
    Reuters surveys of OPEC output found Iraq's daily output was 2.5 million barrels a year ago, but dipped in subsequent months.
    Output from the Kurdish region is seen as a key to boosting exports, which provide Iraq with about 95 percent of its federal revenue.
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