Shake on it: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, right, shakes hands with Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Vice President of Iraq, ahead of today's launch of of the International Compact with Iraq
Iraq aims to pump up oil volume
Iraq wants to increase its crude oil output to 3.5 million barrels per day by 2011 under a five-year reconstruction plan released at the United Nations today.
According to the plan, called the International Compact with Iraq, this would nearly triple Iraq's crude oil export revenue to almost 75 billion Iraqi dinar ($58.8 million).
Since the US-led invasion in 2003, oil production has been stuck at about 2 million bpd with exports of 1.5 million bpd. That compares with pre-war output of just under 3 million bpd and exports of around 2 million bpd.
The Iraq Compact, developed with the help of the UN, also aims for production 700,000 barrels per day of refined products by 2011.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi are attending a conference on the Compact for Iraq, along with nearly 80 nations, later today in a bid to build international support for the reconstruction plan.