Iraq’s upstream shows signs of life
Baghdad is once again looking towards much higher long-term capacity goals
Iraq’s oil production hit a ten-month peak of 3.9mn bl/d in March, as the Opec+ cuts with which the country has, admittedly reluctantly, largely complied with began to ease. And federal export revenues were their highest for a year, ever since the brief Saudi-Russia oil price war was followed by Covid-19. With more production curbs set to lift and the prospect of further revenue growth, Iraq’s oil minister Ihsan Ismaael looked to the future in late March. The country’s new goal is to hike nationwide capacity—including that controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the semi-autonomous north—by some two-thirds, to 8m bl/d, by 2029. 8mn bl/d – Baghdad’s 2029 output goal W

Also in this section
25 July 2025
KRG, Iraq’s central government and Turkey are all working to get exports flowing from the key port, but complications remain
25 July 2025
Mozambique’s insurgency continues, but the security situation near the LNG site has significantly improved, with TotalEnergies aiming to lift its force majeure within months
25 July 2025
There is a bifurcation in the global oil market as China’s stockpiling contrasts with reduced inventories elsewhere
24 July 2025
The reaction to proposed sanctions on Russian oil buyers has been muted, suggesting trader fatigue with Trump’s frequent bold and erratic threats