Iraq Works With OPEC, Other Oil Producers to Support Oil Prices

Iraq cooperates with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members in order to raise oil prices, a deputy chief of staff to the prime minister of Iraq told Sputnik on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — In March, OPEC member states and other oil producing countries could hold a meeting to discuss the issue of the freeze of oil output to facilitate the growth of global oil prices.

"We work together with all the stakeholders, all partners within OPEC and outside, open to help renounce the price of oil, to bring it back to where it should be," Naufel Alhassan said.

Alhassan added that the surplus in the oil market could also be on the agenda of the possible meeting.

Iraq's economy has been hit by a fall in oil prices, but it is working on a plan of investment to develop its oil sector, he noted

"Iraq was hurt a lot by the oil prices drop. We have an ambitious plan of investing in the oil sector and the oil sector provides over 90 percent of our budget, so we heavily depend on oil," Naufel Alhassan said.

Global oil prices plunged from $115 to less than $30 per barrel between June 2014 and January 2016, hitting their lowest levels since 2003, mostly because of prolonged global oversupply and sluggish demand.