Shell is pressing ahead with talks over final development of Iraq's Majnoon oilfield, a senior executive said, and a lower, more realistic oil production target is a core part of discussions.

Majnoon is one of four southern super giant fields that are vital to Iraq's ambition to at least double its oil output and put it firmly back among the world's top producers. But crunch time is approaching.

Iraq awarded service contracts in 2009 to foreign firms who vowed to boost its capacity beyond 12 million barrels per day by 2017, but this target has proved too aggressive due to infrastructure bottlenecks and logistical shortcomings.

With that in mind, companies are now drafting final development plans due by the start of next year.

'We're having ongoing exploratory discussions with the Iraqi government, to determine the optimum field development plan for Majnoon,' said Hans Nijkamp, Royal Dutch Shell vice-president and country chairman for Iraq.-Reuters