Iraq baulks at joining Opec cuts

Dubai

OPEC'S (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) second-largest producer threw an obstacle in the group's path towards a final deal to stabilise oil markets when Iraq baulked at joining efforts to trim output to prop up crude prices.

Iraq should be exempted from cutting production because it's embroiled in a war with Islamic militants, Oil Minister Jabber Al-Luaibi said on Sunday at a news conference in Baghdad. The country produces more than 4.7 million barrels a day it pumped in September, and Iraq's output could rise higher still as the government urges international companies to boost production at its fields, he said. The minister disputed Opec figures that peg Iraqi output at less than 4.2 million barrels daily.