Iraq aims to raise oil output to 7mn barrels a day by 2022 - minister

Iraq plans to sharply increase its oil output capacity to seven million barrels a day by 2022, its oil minister said on Tuesday. The country, which is the second-largest oil producer in the OPEC cartel, now has an oil production capacity of five million barrels per day but is pumping just over 4.7 million under an OPEC output cut agreement. “Our target is to reach seven million bpd by 2022,” said Jabbar al-Luaybi, according to AFP. Luaybi said Iraq sits on proven crude reserves of 145 billion barrels, but he is confident the figure will jump to around 250 billion barrels with sufficient investment.