Iraq hopes its average daily oil exports will exceed 2.2 million barrels per day in March, despite poor weather which hurt loading at its Gulf ports, Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi said.

'Definitely it will be better than the two previous months, but again it is below our ambitions due to the weather circumstances this month,' Luaibi told reporters in Baghdad.

Iraq has plans to dramatically increase its oil exports, which are held back by poor infrastructure at its ports in the Gulf. February exports were barely over 2.0 bpd. The March average was boosted by a new Single Point Mooring system which came on line on March 8.    

Southern fields to yield 6m bpd in 3 years

Meanwhile, Iraq's state-owned South Oil Company aims to boost output at its southern oilfields to six million barrels per day in the next three years, an official from the company said.

'From the six oil contracts the South Oil Company has, the aim is to elevate the production to six million barrels per day in the coming three years,' Mahmood Al-Luibi, director general assistant of the South Oil.

Luibi also said current output from the fields was at 2.3 million bpd and the export capacity stood at 2 million bpd. – Reuters