Iraq is in talks with international companies to help upgrade its oil production and export capacities and an agreement is to be reached soon, Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban said on Tuesday. “This is a top priority. We have talks with international companies which lasted for a while but now we are about to reach a deal and we will settle this issue soon,” Ghadhban told Reuters. He said Iraq was targeting a production capacity of 5 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019 and its export average was expected to reach around 3.8 million bpd. Iraq also plans to boost export capacity, after upgrading its energy infrastructures, to 8.5 million bpd in the “coming years”, Ghadhban said. This upgraded export capacity would […]