Export bottlenecks limit Iraq’s oil production potential

BASRA - Global markets are thirsty for Iraq’s oil, but infrastructure bottlenecks are likely to prevent the country from taking full advantage of high prices and a rising OPEC-plus quota.

Iraq’s oil fields have a combined production capacity of over 5 million barrels per day (bpd), according to an Iraq Oil Report analysis based on a field-by-field survey, which is more than 500,000 bpd higher than its February output. But because of insufficient storage and export facilities, the country cannot actually deliver that much crude to consumers.