Iraq plans to sustain oil production

Iraq plans to sustain oil production at 2.6 million to 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) "for the foreseeable future", the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) reports in its Monday edition.
The oil authorities intended to keep crude output at that level "until a new investment programme is approved and funded," the industry newsletter says.
Baghdad's plans for March set production at 2.6 million bpd over 1.88 million bpd in February, the Cyprus-based weekly says.
"The programme entails, barring unforeseen circumstances, production of two million bpd from the south and 600,000 bpd from the north."
It also sets "an export target of 1.77 million bpd from the south (Basrah Oil Terminal and Khor al-Amaya) and 270,000 bpd from the north (Ceyhan) and deliveries to domestic refineries of 330,000 bpd from the north and 230,000 bpd from the south," MEES notes.
Interim Iraqi oil minister Bahr al-Ulum told AFP last Sunday that production capacity had stabilised at about 2.5 million barrels per day.
"Our aim is to achieve our pre-war capacity of 2.8 million barrels per day, which we intend to do by the end of March, start of April," said the minister.
He confirmed a continuing recovery in oil activity in the south of the country with the reopening of the Khor Al-Amaya terminal on the Gulf.