Iraq’s Southern Oil Company (SOC) recently commenced oil production in two new fields in the southern region of the country. The oil fields have a capacity of 150,000 to 25,000 barrels per day (bpd), reported Al-Rafidain . Iraq aspires to increase its oil reserves to 270 billion bpd and beat Saudi Arabia out of first place as the world's top reservoir. Iraq's proven oil reserves now stand at 115 billion barrels.
Iraq exports crude under the framework of the United Nations oil-for-food program, which allows for a humanitarian exception to the sanctions imposed on Baghdad after its 1990 invasion into Kuwait. Iraq’s oil exports, amounting to two million bpd, are transported through Turkey and the Persian Gulf port of Basra and are mostly exported to the United States and European Union. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
