Iraqi Oil Output Reaches Highest Level in More Than 3 Years: IEA

Iraqi oil output reaches highest level in more than 3 years: IEA

PARIS, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) — Iraq’s oil output hit its highest level in about three years in November, reaching 2.32 million barrels per day, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA)said Friday.

The oil output of the war-torn country enjoyed increase from the first quarter of 2007, when the oil output stood at 1.9 million barrels per day, the agency said in its monthly oil marketreport.

Security in Iraq has been improved since the spring of 2004, when the anti-U.S. insurgency started to intensify, the 58-page report said.

The increase in output resulted largely from “more regular” pipeline crude shipments from fields around the northern city of Kirkuk to Ceyhan in Turkey, the IEA said.

The report also expected a sustained or higher volumes of oil output in the next two to three months from Iraq.

Iraq’s oil pipelines have come under repeated attacks by the anti- U.S. forces since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. Thecountry’s oil production remained between 1.7 million and 2 million barrels per day, the IEA said.

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