Iraq's new Oil Minister Abdul  Kareem Luaibi said on Monday that the country's oil production currently exceeded 2.6 million barrels per day, the first time it had reached that level in 20 years.

"Today, the Iraqi production reached more than 2.6 million  bpd for the first time in 20 years," Luaibi told reporters.     

Luaibi said on Saturday Iraq aimed to raise oil output to 3 million barrels per day by the end of 2011.

Luaibi, who was appointed to his new position last week,  said on Friday that Iraq was on track to raise output capacity  to 12 million bpd in six to seven years' time.

Skeptical analysts say 6-7 million bpd is a more realistic target. Reuters surveys of Opec output found Iraq's daily  output was 2.5 million barrels a year ago, but dipped in  subsequent months.

Iraq sits upon some of the world's largest oil reserves  but has struggled to push output close to the 3 million  barrels per day it produced in the late 1980s before it  invaded Kuwait.

Lingering insecurity and political limbo have delayed  much-needed upgrades to the war-ravaged country's oilfields  and export pipelines.- Reuters