Iraq expects to see its crude oil production reach 2.75 million barrels per day this year, Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said on Wednesday.

Shahristani, who has responsibility for Iraq's growing energy sector, said exports from fields in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region had reached between 60,000 and 70,000 bpd.

Iraq signed a series of deals with foreign oil majors in hopes of boosting oil production capacity to as much as 8-12 million barrels per day within about six years.

"The expected production for this year will be 2.75 (million bpd) and we consider it a big and tangible increase," Shahristani said after briefing parliament's oil and gas committee on Iraq's energy sector.

"Current exports from all (producing) fields in the Kurdish region has reached 60 to 70 thousand barrels per day," he said. "These are from Taq Taq, Tawke and Khormala."

Shahristani said he expected to submit a multibillion-dollar gas deal with Royal Dutch Shell and Japan's Mitsubishi to capture gas from Iraq's oilfields to the cabinet "in the near future."

"We are finished with a lot of the details of the deal. This is the first experience for us and this deal is very complicated but I am personally satisfied with the draft contract we have reached," he said. – Reuters