The Iraqi Oil Ministry reiterated that the country was still on track to achieve a crude oil production target of 6.5 million bpd by 2014 despite a recent IMF report arguing that Iraq will see a lower output rise because of infrastructure challenges.
Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said that Iraq expected its oil production, currently at around 2.7 million bpd to hit 6.5 million bpd in 2014.
Iraq is targeting close to 13 million bpd of production capacity by 2017 after awarding long term service contracts to foreign oil companies for development of some of its biggest oil fields.
Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi had not seen the figures from the IMF report but said they appeared based on "inaccurate data and reports," reported Platts.
The IMF said in a country report in March that while Iraqi oil production was projected to increase considerably over the medium- to long-term, it would hit 12.2 million bpd over the next seven years in a best case scenario, and there were infrastructural risks that could hamper the developments.
"While these production goals could be feasible in the longer term, the main risks in the coming years will be bottlenecks in the export infrastructure that will need to be addressed," the IMF said.
