Rising U.S. shale oil production will have only minimal effect on demand for crude oil from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, meaning most members of the group want to leave their output ceiling unchanged at 30 million barrels a day, said Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaiby Thursday.
OPEC members will discuss the selection criteria for choosing a new Secretary General at its meeting Friday and Iraq's candidate for the job, Thamer Ghadban, is still standing, Mr. Luaiby told reporters at a briefing in Vienna.
Iraq will continue to increase its oil production to 3.525 million barrels a day by the end of this year, compared with 3.125 million barrels a day currently, Mr. Luaiby said.
As part of talks aimed at lowering Iraq's long-term oil output target, but prolonging the period of highest production, the Iraqi government has agreed with Italian oil company Eni SpA to reduce the output target for the Zubair oil field to 850,000 barrels a day, from 1 million barrels a day previously, he said.
