SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq backs a proposal by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies to extend a pact on output curbs until December 2022, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said on Sunday.
Iraq also agrees with a proposal that the group known as OPEC+ should increase its output by 400,000 barrels per day from August, in line with the pact to gradually lift curbs imposed after the pandemic last year triggered a record price collapse, according to Reuters.
Speaking at a news briefing in Baghdad, Abdul Jabbar said he expected oil prices to remain at $70 per barrel or above until December 2022.
He further said Iraq’s oil exports will be 2.9 million bpd in July, marking full compliance with the current OPEC agreement.
The country exported crude at the same rate in June, official figures show.
OPEC+ is expected to resume talks on Monday after failing to reach a deal on oil output policy for a second day running on Friday after the United Arab Emirates opposed an extension of the current agreement on output cuts until December 2022.
The UAE said the extension was conditional on revising up its baseline, the level of production against which cuts are calculated, the sources added.
Responding to oil demand destruction caused by the coronavirus crisis, OPEC+ agreed last year to cut output by almost 10 million bpd from May 2020, with plans to phase out the curbs by the end of April 2022.
