Dubai

THE Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) has an Iraq problem: the group's second biggest exporter is lurching between quota busting and production-crimping crisis, clouding the policymaking picture as ministers decide how long they need to extend output curbs.

After consistently exceeding its output quota all year, Iraqi production plunged in October when clashes between the federal army and fighters from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region disrupted fields in the disputed Kirkuk province. While the conflict has calmed, exports from Iraq's northern fields remained 40 per cent lower in the first half of November than before the fighting, tanker tracking data show.