BAGHDAD, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- With foreign oil companies getting to work in Iraq, Baghdad said it could be producing 3 million barrels of oil per day by the end of the year.
Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, a top federal contract official in Iraq, told The Wall Street Journal that work at many of the oil fields in the south of the country was cause for optimism.
"We are hoping to reach a total of 3 million barrels a day by the end of 2011," he was quoted as saying.
Baghdad handed out a series of technical service contracts to foreign energy companies since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Because of this, the government said production could reach 12 million barrels of oil per day in less than 10 years.
Oil executives and energy analysts, however, doubt Iraq could meet its ambitious goals because of financial hurdles and a lack of infrastructure.
Foreign energy companies, however, are called on to increase oil production by 10 percent within three years of the start of work to recoup expenses.
Even a modest increase in production, the Journal notes, could help meet the growing energy appetite from China and bring oil prices under control.
