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.
