Royal Dutch Shell has begun a test of production at the Iraq's giant Majnoon oilfield and is aiming to boost output to around 190,000 barrels per day (bpd) in October, an Iraqi oil official said.

"The test restart of the oilfield will continue until the end of September and production of around 190,000 barrels per day is expected to be reached in October," said an official from Iraq's South Oil Company who is close to the project.

Shell is in charge of operations at the oilfield, one of four giant southern fields vital to Iraq's ambition to at least double output that is now around 3 million bpd.

Opec's second biggest producer expects its output to rise by 400,000 bpd by the end of this year, with Majnoon providing a big part of that.-Reuters