Iraq's oil minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said that an expected surge in the country's oil supply over the next few years will provide a "safety valve" to stabilise volatile oil prices, Associated Press has reported. "Our projection for the next two decades is that the world will require additional oil. There is no other source that can replace oil ... any additional demand for oil particularly in Asian markets will have to be met by Iraqi oil," he told a regional oil and gas conference.