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War-torn Iraq happy with high oil prices

https://www.chemnet.com   Aug 03,2007 Middle East Times
BAGHDAD -- War-torn Iraq is pleased that high oil prices will help fund emergency reconstruction work, but does not want a price bubble to cause instability, oil minister Hussein Al Shahristani said Thursday.
Speaking shortly after New York oil prices hit and then retreated from a record high, the minister said that despite Iraq's dire need of revenue it might not oppose an increase in output among OPEC members to steady prices.

"Iraq is undergoing reconstruction process and is in need of large oil revenues. These price hikes will help organize the budget for reconstructing Iraq," he said in a telephone interview. "But we do not seek irrational increases in prices of crude oil that affect the world market and the consumer. Nor do we seek production increases in a way that dumps oil on the world market. So Iraq, through OPEC, seeks a balance.

"In our next OPEC meeting, we will study a slight increase in production to provide what the world market needs to maintain price balances," he said.

Oil prices were falling Thursday one day after light sweet crude hit $78.77 per barrel in New York trading for the first time, and oil-consuming countries are pressing OPEC members to increase production.

Iraq is a founding member of OPEC and this year has produced an average of 1.98 million barrels of crude per day, making it the sixth largest producer in the 12-member cartel.
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