Iraq sticks to ambitious oil output target

BAGHDAD, May 15 (AFP): Iraq insisted Saturday it will boost oil production fivefold in the coming years, despite IMF predictions that it will fall short, and that power supplies would meet fast-rising demand by 2013. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani added that oil production would reach three million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year, and said there were no forseeable obstacles to Iraq massively ramping up that figure to rival the 8.6 mbpd of oil king Saudi Arabia. "The government believes also that the contracted oil companies are serious in carrying out their contractual obligations to access the production rate of 12.5 million bpd in 2017," Shahristani, who is responsible for energy affairs, told a news conference in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone. "We believe that this goal is realistic and feasible, as currently, there are no signs we will not be able to achieve this goal in a timely manner." According to an English translation of his speech handed out to journalists, Shahristani said oil production would rise from between 2.6 and 2.7 mbpd currently to three million bpd by the end of this year, 3.3 mbpd in 2012, and 6.5 mbpd in 2014. His projections are at odds with those published in March by the International Monetary Fund, which has expressed doubt over Iraq's ability to meet its long-term targets for oil production. Based on more conservative assumptions for the time it will take to expand Iraq's export capacity, oil production could still increase to over five million bpd by 2017. The IMF cited the need for huge investments in port facilities, pipelines, desalination plants, for water to be injected into oil fields, and storage facilities.