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Iraq Seeks to Increase Oil Production to 6 Million Barrels a Day

General view of al-Zubair oil field near Basra, Iraq April 21, 2020. (Reuters)
General view of al-Zubair oil field near Basra, Iraq April 21, 2020. (Reuters)
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Iraq Seeks to Increase Oil Production to 6 Million Barrels a Day

General view of al-Zubair oil field near Basra, Iraq April 21, 2020. (Reuters)
General view of al-Zubair oil field near Basra, Iraq April 21, 2020. (Reuters)

Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Oil Minister Hayan Abdel Ghani said on Wednesday that his ministry is working to increase oil production and implementing the requirements of the five-year plan to reach a production rate of 6 million barrels per day.

During a meeting he chaired to discuss oil operations with senior officials in the sector, he said the ministry is also working on the resumption of oil exports from northern Iraq to increase financial revenues, which support the state treasury.

Abdel Ghani stated that the ministry’s financial revenues increased in 2023 exceeding its forecasts, and hopes to achieve more during the new year.

He therefore called for accelerating the implementation of strategic projects related to oil exploration and extraction, flared gas utilization, renewable energy, and infrastructure.

“We aspire that the new year will witness the implementation of many strategic projects and make achievements. We also hope that this will constitute an important addition to the oil industry,” the Minister stressed.

In the refinery sector, Abdel Ghani said his ministry has achieved a significant increase in production, and it plans to reach self-sufficiency and stop imports.

“In the future, we will complete a number of promising projects that achieve our goals,” he added.

“We have succeeded in promoting associated gas investment projects, and the past period has witnessed an increase in the quantities of gas invested from oil fields, and this year will witness the addition of 200 million cubic meters from invested fields within the work tasks of the Basra Gas Company, in addition to promising increases from the fields of two oil companies of Maysan and Dhi Qar.”

Abdel Ghani added that Iraq is working to enhance the strategic reserve of petroleum products, to support the electric power generation sector and the local need.

On Wednesday, the Oil Ministry said that Iraq's oil revenue reached $8.316 billion in December.

“The average daily quantities of crude oil exported reached three million and 486,000 barrels per day while the average price of one barrel reached around $77,” it said.

Exports of Iraqi crude oil from Kurdistan's fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan are still suspended after the failure of the Iraqi government to reach understandings with Türkiye and foreign companies operating in the Kurdistan Region on the mechanism of oil export and payment of dues.

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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Mexico won't be required to pay tariffs on any goods that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade until April 2, but made no mention of a reprieve for Canada despite his Commerce secretary saying a comparable exemption was likely.

"After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This Agreement is until April 2nd."

Earlier on Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the one-month reprieve on hefty tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada that has been granted to automotive products is likely to be extended to all products that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

Lutnick told CNBC he expected Trump to announce that extension on Thursday, a day after exempting automotive goods from the 25% tariffs he slapped on imports from Canada and Mexico earlier in the week.

Trump "is going to decide this today," Lutnick said, adding "it's likely that it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services."

"So if you think about it this way, if you lived under Donald Trump's US-Mexico-Canada agreement, you will get a reprieve from these tariffs now. If you chose to go outside of that, you did so at your own risk, and today is when that reckoning comes," he said.

Nonetheless, Trump's social media post made no mention of a reprieve for Canada, the other party to the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Lutnick said his "off the cuff" estimate was that more than 50% of the goods imported from the two US neighbors - also its largest two trading partners - were compliant with the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Lutnick's comments "promising" in remarks to reporters in Canada.

"That aligns with some of the conversations that we have been having with administration officials, but I'm going to wait for an official agreement to talk about Canadian response and look at the details of it," Trudeau said. "But it is a promising sign. But I will highlight that it means that the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place."

Lutnick emphasized that the reprieve would only last until April 2, when he said the administration plans to move ahead with reciprocal tariffs under which the US will impose levies that match those imposed by trading partners.

In the meantime, he said, the current hiatus is about getting fentanyl deaths down, which is the initial justification Trump used for the tariffs on Mexico and Canada and levies on Chinese goods that have now risen to 20%.

"On April 2, we're going to move with the reciprocal tariffs, and hopefully Mexico and Canada will have done a good enough job on fentanyl that this part of the conversation will be off the table, and we'll move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation," Lutnick said. "But if they haven't, this will stay on."

Indeed, Trudeau is expecting the US and Canada to remain in a trade war.

"I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future," he told reporters in Ottawa.