In an interview with Reuters, Iraq’s oil minister Adel Abdul Mahdi confirmed the country’s plan to continue to increase the oil output of the country in spite of the expectations from Iran after sanctions were lifted
“Iraqi oil will remain cheap for China,” the minister stated. “The average cost of extraction in southern Iraq is about US$10 per barrel. The region expects the increase by 400,000 bpd this year, to over four million bpd.
“Our 2016 term contracts are fully booked,” he said, “In fact, the demand on our oil is more than our offer, even with the return of Iran.”
The minister confirmed Iraq would support an emergency meeting of OPEC if the group can reach an agreement on curbing the output in coordination with non-OPEC producers. He further went on to state that if such an agreement was impossible, OPEC should refrain from holding any extraordinary meeting in order not to depress prices further.
