Iraq can boost oil output by 200,000 bpd in 2022 if asked: Basra oil executive

Iraq can boost oil output by 200,000 bpd in 2022 if asked: Basra oil executive

Iraq has the capacity to increase its oil production by 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) this year if asked, an executive of Iraq’s Basra Oil Co. (BOC) told Reuters on Friday.

“If Iraq is asked to increase production, we can add 200,000 barrels until the end of the year as available production capacity,” Hassan Mohammed, deputy BOC manager in charge of oilfields and licensing rounds affairs, said in an interview.

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“But (to produce) more than this amount, (we) need more time.” The increase will come from West Qurna 1 oilfields and other oilfields developed by Iraqi state-run oil companies, Mohammed added.

This comes two weeks after US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia as part of his first trip to the Middle East as US president, hoping to strike a deal on oil production to help drive down gasoline prices.

Oil prices have rocketed to their highest levels since 2008, climbing above $139 a barrel in March, after the United States and Europe imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation.” Prices have slipped since then.

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