Iraq was the second-leading contributor to the growth in global oil supply in 2015, behind only the United States. Crude oil production in Iraq, including fields in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, averaged 4.0 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2015, almost 700,000 b/d above the 2014 level. Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and accounted for about 75% of total OPEC production growth in 2015. Iraq’s oil consumption decreased slightly in 2015, and as a result, all of the crude oil production increase was exported to international markets. In southern Iraq, where almost 90% of the country’s oil was produced in 2015, the upgrade of midstream infrastructure (pipeline pumping stations and storage […]