Iraq will produce five million barrels per day by 2016, according to a study by market research firm Douglas-Westwood
The Iraqi government production targets have been set at 12mmbpd by 2020, which will require an unprecedented growth in drilling activity, with more than 2,700 wells to be drilled between 2012 and 2016.
Douglas-Westwood's study, however, suggests a more conservative scenario, which would see oil production increasing to 5mmbpd by 2016 in the country and 1mmbpd in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In 2011 Iraq produced 2.6mmbpd.
The scale of opportunity under a constrained production scenario is likely to remain high, with more than 1,000 wells required up to 2016, the study found.
"The potential scale of the Iraqi oil and gas sector is unprecedented today and could offer a major opportunity for the drilling and the oilfield service industry," the report concluded.
