EIA's Update On Iraq -- April 28, 2016

From the EIA:

The U.S. Energy Information Administration released its updated country analysis brief on Iraq’s energy sector.

There is some good background information here for future stories and could enough for a separate story now.

“Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest crude oil producer and holds the fifth-largest proved crude oil reserves in the world.

In 2015, Iraq’s production increased by almost 700,000 b/d compared with the production level in 2014, representing the largest year-over-year increase since Iraq’s production recovery in 2004, following the start of the Iraq war...Iraq continues to lower its ambitious oil production targets...After lowering the target to about 9.0 million b/d by 2020, Iraq may lower the target down to 6.0 million b/d if oil prices continue to be low. -- U.S. EIA

From the link:

Iraq was the second-leading contributor to the growth in global oil supply in 2015, behind only the United States. Crude oil production in Iraq, including fields in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, averaged 4.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2015, almost 700,000 b/d above the 2014 level.

Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and accounted for about 75% of total OPEC production growth in 2015. Iraq's oil consumption decreased slightly in 2015, and as a result, all of the crude oil production increase was exported to international markets.