Iraq has no plans for third oil round

Dec 21, 2009 at 01:18

LUANDA - Iraq has no plans for a third oil auction, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Sunday, dashing expectations the country might offer up further acreage following on from two previous rounds.

Contracts already awarded at two auctions this year should boost the country's output to 12 million barrels per day in six to seven years' time from around 2.5 million bpd now.

Some officials have suggested there could be another round, but Shahristani told reporters: "We have no plans."

He also did not anticipate any big output rise in the next two years.

"We don't expect Iraq's production to increase significantly next year or even in 2011," the minister told reporters ahead of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Tuesday in Luanda.

After years of war and international sanctions eroded Iraq's oil capacity, it is the only member of the 12-strong group that does not have an agreed OPEC production limit.

Shahristani said he did not expect any discussion to give it an output target in the next year.

OPEC agreed a record reduction in its overall supply curbs of 4.2 million bpd last year.

Since reaching a peak of 80 percent in April this year, compliance levels with that reduction have slipped to around 60 percent and a welter of oversupply has built up on the oil market.

Oil prices have managed to hold firm, however, at above $70 a barrel, which has led OPEC ministers to say they see no need for OPEC to adjust output at its meeting on Tuesday.

Shahristani said a price of around $70 was reasonable even for producers with high production costs.

Source: http://business.maktoob.com/20090000409690/Iraq_has_no_plans_for_third_oil_round/Article.htm