Iraqi Kurdistan crude output at 115,000bpd

Crude production from oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan has reached 115,000 barrels per day, Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy said on Wednesday.

The figure marks a sharp increase from levels of roughly 60,000-70,000 bpd reached in February.

Hussain Al Shahristani, who was oil minister for Iraq before becoming deputy prime minister, also said the central government in Baghdad still would not recognise production-sharing agreements the Kurdistan Regional Government signed with international oil companies.

Exports from the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan resumed this year after grinding to a halt in October 2009 as a result of a bitter dispute over contracts signed by the KRG. Baghdad considered the deals illegal.

"We are not going to recognise the contracts," Shahristani said on the sidelines of a conference in Paris.

"The KRG will present the invoices for capital investment that has been invested in that region to produce this oil. If these invoices are in line with market prices the minister of finance in Baghdad will compensate them."

Shahristani said all crude from Iraqi Kurdistan was flowing via pipeline and would be exported by the State Oil Marketing Organisation (Somo).

Kurdish Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami has said output could hit 250,000 bpd by the end of the year.

Baghdad has signed a series of contracts with global majors that could increase Iraq's production capacity to between eight million and 12m bpd in the next few years, although analysts say 6-7m bpd is a more realistic target.

Asked if there was any concern over whether international oil companies could maintain high levels of output, Shahristani said: "We have no concerns about that. Our fields can support the levels they have been contracted for."