Embassy: U.S. purchases 17 pct of Iraqi oil export
Baiji oil refinery
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said on Sunday that 17 percent of Iraqi oil exports go to America, highlighting that Iraq still has extraordinary potentials other than oil.
This came in a short video the embassy published on its official Facebook page, in which a number of its staffers spoke about the American-Iraqi relations.
In this minute-and-a-half video, one of the embassy’s staffers said that the U.S. “purchases 17% of Iraqi oil exports,” adding that however the extraordinary potential in Iraq “goes far beyond oil.”
“Iraq can become a regional economic leader again,” he stressed.
The embassy further stressed that the United States seeks “a mutually beneficial partnership with Iraq.”
It added that representatives of more than 50 American companies will visit Baghdad this month to help introduce advanced technology to start business, in addition to exploring and developing partnerships with Iraqi firms.
Last month, Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban said that Iraq plans to increase its oil output and export capacity in 2019 and is close to reaching a deal with energy company BP to boost output from oilfields around Kirkuk.
Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, is targeting production capacity of 5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019, with average exports expected to reach around 3.8 million bpd.