Iraq Poised to Become World’s Largest Oil Exporter

Iraq’s contribution to the world’s oil supply will significantly increase to more than 8 million barrels a day by 2035, outstripping its current output, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

In its “Iraq Energy Outlook” report, the IEA said the country’s oil and gas reserves would be key to its own future, as well as playing an essential role in stabilizing the global energy markets.

It is expected that Iraq will dominate oil supply over the coming decades and will become the world’s largest oil exporter after Russia by the 2030s.

Iraq will also become the key supplier to the fastest growing economies of Asia, the report said.

“Developments in Iraq’s energy sector are critical to the country’s prospects and also for the health of the economy,” Fatih Birol, chief economist and the report’s author said.

He went on to warn, however: “Success is not assured and failure to achieve the anticipated increase in Iraq’s oil supply would put global markets on course for troubled waters.”

The report notes that one of the biggest obstacles to Iraq’s more prominent role is the supply of electricity in the country with “supply insufficient to meet demand” and building a modern electricity system is recognized by the report as an “immediate priority.”

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