Country hopes to boost output from fields: deputy oil minister Iraq sees oil output at 4.8 million barrels a day to end-2016 Iraq is negotiating with Exxon Mobil Corp. and Petrochina Co. to develop two oil fields in the south of the country as it seeks to maintain overall production at about 4.8 million barrels a day for the rest of 2016, Deputy Oil Minister Fayyad Al-Nima said. The companies have submitted offers to develop the Artawi and Nahran Omar fields, which Iraq’s Oil Ministry hopes will produce a combined 550,000 barrels a day, Al-Nima said Wednesday in an interview in Baghdad. The fields together are pumping about 70,000 barrels daily, and the ministry wants to start the project in six months, he said. Al-Nima assumed the duties of oil minister after Adel Abdul Mahdi suspended his participation in the cabinet in March. Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest member, is producing […]