Oil minister says Iraq, Kuwait close to gas export deal

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s oil minister said Wednesday that an agreement to export 200 million cubic feet of Iraqi natural gas per day to Kuwait will “see the light soon”.

Jabbar al-Loaibi said in a press statement in Kuwait that the current atmosphere is “encouraging” to proceed towards the deal which, he said, was first brought up between 2004 and 2008 but “faced difficulties”.

Panels are to be formed to continue studies for the anticipated deal, Loaibi said following a meeting with Kuwaiti counterpart, Essam al-Marzouq.

Asked about the size of Iraq’s current natural gas production, Loaibi set the volume at 3200 million cubic feet daily, 65% of which is used for investment purposes.

Concerning petroleum production, Loaibi revealed that the current production stands at 4.560 million barrels a day, stressing that his country remains committed to reduce its share of OPECD production in line with a recent agreement between member producers at the organization.