BAGHDAD — A senior official at Iraq’s oil ministry warned Thursday that the country will be forced to consider every option available if its production quota within OPEC is not substantially raised, according to Reuters.
Additional sources told Reuters that Iraqi officials have discussed the possibility of withdrawing from OPEC entirely, though the current strategy is to stay in the organization and push for a larger share of production.
The possibility of Iraq walking away from OPEC would deal another serious blow to the organization, which already lost the United Arab Emirates as a member this year. Iraq holds the distinction of being one of the group’s five original founding members, and OPEC itself was established in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
OPEC had not responded to a request for comment at the time of the report.
The Iraqi official described the situation as urgent, telling Reuters that Iraq is in the grip of a severe financial crisis stemming from the Iran war, and that a meaningful increase in its OPEC production quota is not just important — it must be treated with the highest level of seriousness.
OPEC+ is made up of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries along with allied oil-producing nations, including Russia.
