Iraq could become world's second biggest oil exporter

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/09/iraq-world-second-oil-exporter-iea


Oil workers at the Rumaila oil refinery, near Basra in southern Iraq. Photograph: Nabil Al-Jurani/AP

Iraq could become the world's second-largest oil exporter within two decades and double its output by 2020, according to a major new study.

The International Energy Agency said Iraq can overtake Russia for exports and be responsible for nearly half of all anticipated growth in global output.

But the country's government must overcome internal disputes over oil rights with the autonomous Kurdish region in the north and increase current investment from $9bn (£5.6bn) in 2011 to $25bn a year on average for the rest of the decade, the authors warn.