Iraq to Hold Oil Output Near 1.4 Million Bpd as War Strangles Exports

Iraq will maintain crude oil production at roughly 1.4 million barrels per day as the war disrupting the Persian Gulf continues to cripple the country’s export routes, Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said Thursday, according to the state news agency. The figure represents a dramatic collapse from Iraq’s normal production levels. Before the conflict effectively froze tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Iraq had been pumping a little over 4 million barrels per day, according to recent OPEC data and secondary-source estimates cited…