DUBAI, Oct 2: Iraq plans to export 2.9 million barrels of oil per day in 2013 and hopes to increase production to 3.4 million bpd by the end of this year, a high-ranking official said on Tuesday.

“Next year the plan is 2.9 million bpd of exports,” said Thamir Ghadhban, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s main advisor. Production is “already over three million bpd... We hope to reach 3.4 million bpd by the end of the year,” Ghadhban told reporters on the sidelines of the third Iraq Mega Projects conference held in Dubai.

When asked about the reintegration of Iraq into the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ production quotas system, Ghadhban said: “We are not in a hurry. Actually, this is very much subject to an agreement within Opec.”

Revenues from September exports were $8.4 billion at an average price of $107 per barrel, Jihad said. Iraq earned $8.442 billion in August. Iraq has proven reserves of 143.1 billion barrels of oil and 3.2 trillion cubic metres of gas, both of which are among the largest in the world.—AFP