Iraq Industry Minister: Iraqi oil production, including from Iraqi Kurdistan, will 3M bpd this year…

Iraq's oil production could reach unprecedented record of three million barrels per day by the end of 2008, according to Iraq's Minister of Industry, Fawzi Hariri, the Kuwait News Agency reports. "The Iraqi Ministry of Oil's target is to reach three million barrels and we believe with some maintenance of existing oil producing wells and the combination of the oil produced in Kurdistan and local wells, we can reach three million barrels by the end of 2008," Hariri said.

Iraq is in advanced talks for an oil service contract with a consortium of Vitol, Anadarko and Dome to boost output by 100,000 barrels per day at its Luhais oilfield, industry sources said, Simon Webb reports for Reuters. The contract is the sixth in a batch of short-term oil service contracts worth around $500 million each that Iraq wants to sign with international oil companies in June.