Iraq: Iraq Oil Surge Seen Losing Steam Just as Markets Need More

May 16, 2016 | Anthony Dipaola, Bloomberg
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Iraq’s oil industry is on a roll. Production has jumped more than 40 percent since mid-2014 and exports are at near-record levels. It probably won’t last. Plunging government revenue is hampering the state’s ability to invest, while OPEC’s second-biggest crude producer is reaching the limits of its capacity to store and export oil, according to analysts at Energy Aspects Ltd. and FGE. Spending on the country’s biggest fields may shrink to as little as $7 billion this year from about $13 billion in 2015 and $20 billion in 2014, Richard Mallinson of Energy Aspects said Monday.