Hussain al Shahristani, Iraq’s oil minister expects the country to become the world’s top oil producer in the next six to seven years, according to Reuters’ reports.

Iraq produced some 2.4m barrels-a-day (b/d) in 2008, up 13 per cent on 2007 levels.

“We can’t find a reason to prevent Iraqi production becoming higher than any other Opec state or even states outside Opec,” said Shahristani.

Unlike the other 11 members of the oil cartel, Baghdad is not currently subject to production quotas.