There’s been no directive from the government in Baghdad to curb oil production for next year, the head of a Russian oil company said. Russian oil company Lukoil started production from the West Qurna-2 oil field, located in southern Iraq, in early 2015. The Iraqi government said full field production could eventually reach 400,000 barrels of oil per day. Iraq is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and agreed to cut oil production to 4.35 million bpd starting Jan. 1. An OPEC deal reached late November to curb output is aimed at restoring balance to a market favoring the supply side and Iraq’s commitment was hard to come by as the government said it needs revenue from oil to finance the fight against the Islamic State terror group. Vagit Alexperov, the head of the Russian oil company, said there are no […]