ABU DHABI: Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Al-Luaibi said on Saturday that the OPEC member’s oil output capacity is nearing 5 million barrels per day, but the country will remain in full compliance with its output target under a global pact to cut supplies.
Al-Luaibi said the supply cut agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers should continue despite a rise in oil prices.
“The market now is not 100 percent stable,” he said at an industry conference in Abu Dhabi, adding that current oil prices could be sustained, but there might be some fluctuations.
For the week, Brent crude rose 3.3 percent, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude jumped 4.7 percent, having hit its strongest since late 2014 at $64.77 on Thursday.
The deal between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia to cut 1.8 million barrels per day of crude, which started in January 2017, is due to last until the end of 2018.
Al-Luaibi said Iraq’s current oil production is about 4.3 million barrels per day.
Despite the increase in oil production from the US, “so far there is a balance” in the oil market, Al-Luaibi said.
“We are watching the market and the market is okay in terms of supply and demand balance. There’s still a gap, inventories are still high. The inventory level will decrease gradually and we will see how things will go,” he told reporters.
Al-Luaibi also said that his ministry plans to conclude three contracts with international gas companies by mid-2018 to utilize gas from Basra, Maysan and Nassiriyah southern provinces.
He said that by 2021, the country plans to “reach zero gas flaring.”
Iraq is forced to flare some of the gas produced alongside crude oil as it lacks the facilities needed to capture and process it into usable fuel.
The country has just one gas processing company, the Basrah Gas Company, a joint venture between Iraq’s state-run South Gas Co., Shell and Mitsubishi.
OPEC’s second-largest crude producer after Saudi Arabia, Iraq is seeking to increase its oil and gas income, which account for nearly all its public budget.
Iraq nears oil output capacity, committed to OPEC cuts
Iraq nears oil output capacity, committed to OPEC cuts
Egypt-born Dina Powell McCormick appointed Meta president and vice chairman
- The former Goldman Sachs partner and White House official previously served on Meta’s board of directors
- Powell McCormick, who was born in Cairo and moved to the US as a child, joins the management team and will help guide overall strategy and execution
LONDON: Meta has appointed Egypt-born Dina Powell McCormick as its new president and vice chairman.
The company said on Monday that the former Goldman Sachs partner and White House official, who previously served on Meta’s board of directors, is stepping up into a senior leadership role as the company accelerates its push into artificial intelligence and global infrastructure.
Powell McCormick, who was born in Cairo and moved to the US as a young girl, will join the management team and help guide its overall strategy and execution. She will work closely with Meta’s Compute and infrastructure teams, the company said, overseeing multi-billion-dollar investments in data centers, energy systems and global connectivity, while building new strategic capital partnerships.
“Dina’s experience at the highest levels of global finance, combined with her deep relationships around the world, makes her uniquely suited to help Meta manage this next phase of growth as the company’s president and vice chairman,” Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
Powell McCormick has more than 25 years of experience in finance, national security and economic development. She spent 16 years as a partner at Goldman Sachs in senior leadership roles, and served two US presidents, including stints as deputy national security adviser to Donald Trump, and a senior State Department official under George W. Bush.
Most recently, she was vice chair and president of global client services at merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners.
