Electricity production claims in Iraq exaggerated.

Reports that Iraq is producing as much electricity as it had prior to the U.S. invasion are widely exaggerated, an Iraqi energy analyst said.

Adel Mahdi with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity said earlier this week Iraq was producing half of its estimated 10,000-megawatt power needs, roughly the same level produced in 2002.

But Isam al-Khalisi, an independent analyst working on national public utilities, said the production levels quoted by the Electricity Ministry were "inaccurate and contradictory," the Iraqi daily Azzaman reported.

"The(se) … figures contradict statistics issued by the ministry in 2006, for example, and a press conference by the minister himself earlier this month," he said.