Iraq’s oil minister says the country plans to increase daily crude oil production to 5 million barrels by the end of this year, up from the current rate of about 4.4 million barrels per day.
Addressing an energy conference in Baghdad on Sunday, Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi didn’t give details on which of the country’s oil fields would supply the increased output.
Iraq holds the world’s fourth largest oil reserves. This year, it added 10 billion barrels, bringing its total reserves up to 153.1 billion barrels.
Luaibi also said that more 15 billion barrels are planned to be added by 2018.
Oil revenues make up nearly 95 percent of Iraq’s budget.
