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Iraq's compliance stands now at 98 percent, the nation's oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi told reporters, after addressing a conference in the Iraqi capital, also attended by Barkindo.

Compliance with the deal agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC producers at the end of last year to cut supply is "encouraging," Barkindo told the forum.

General compliance with supply cuts by the oil producers was 86 percent in January and 94 percent in February, he added.

The market is already balancing, Barkindo said, adding stocks of crude were coming down.

Luaibi said he was satisfied with the existing deal, but declined to say whether Iraq would support an extension, leaving it to an OPEC ministerial meeting planned in May.

The current deal, he said, "contains many positive elements and achieved a lot of targets; work is ongoing to reach the reduction of 1.8" million barrels per day agreed by OPEC and 11 other nations including Russia for their combined production in the first half of 2017.

The accord has lifted crude to about $50 a barrel. But the price gain has also encouraged U.S. shale oil producers, which are not part of the pact, to boost output.

While Iraq is committed to achieving 100 percent of its target reduction, it will proceed with projects to boost oil production capacity to 5 million barrels per day before the end of the year, Luaibi said.

OPEC's second-largest producer, after Saudi Arabia, Iraq will proceed in parallel with exploration plans to increase its reserves by 15 billion barrels in 2018, to reach 178 billion barrels, he said.

Among the plans to increase output capacity from existing fields is a sea water injection plan which is in process of being tendered, he added.

Iraq's oil production has averaged 4.464 million barrels per day so far in March, a reduction of more than 300,000 bpd on levels before OPEC cuts were implemented from Jan. 1, state-oil marketer SOMO said on Thursday.

Average crude exports were 3.756 million bpd in March, versus a record of more than 4 million bpd in November, according to SOMO.

Most of Iraq's crude is exported from southern ports, the region where it is produced. Exports from the south averaged 3.2 million bpd in March, Luaibi said.

Barkindo described as "very constructive" meetings he had on Saturday with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad.

Iraq's natural gas output will triple to 1,700 million cubic feet per day by 2018, as it implements projects to reduce flaring, Luaibi told the conference.

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Iraq has pledged to fully comply with oil cut deal, OPEC chief says - Daily Republic

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April 2, 2017, 1:00 PM EDT

A territorial dispute in northern Iraq threatens to disrupt oil output at a field containing as much crude as Norway, even asU.S.-backed forces prepare what could be a decisive blow against Islamic State militants in the nearby city of Mosul. Kirkuk, where Iraq first discovered oil in 1927, can produce more than 1 million barrels a day but is pumping at less than half its capacity while competing ethnic and political groups scramble to control its 9 billion barrels of reserves.

Lying near a disputed city of the same name, the Kirkuk field is a tinderbox for potential conflict between the central government and Iraqs semi-autonomous Kurds, both of whom have for decades claimed it as their own. More recently, it also became became a flashpoint for rival Kurdish political parties and their heavily armed supporters. As Islamic State becomes less of a pressing threat, a lot of these tensions that had been subsumed into the common fight are inevitably going to come back to the surface, says Richard Mallinson, an analyst at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd.

Iraqs central government and theKurdistan Regional Government both pump oil from different wells at the field, which straddles their respective areas of control.Kurdish forces took control of territory around Kirkuk in June 2014 after the Iraqi Army fled from Islamic State militants, but the federal government in Baghdad doesnt recognize Kurdish control of the area. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party, which leads Kirkuks local government and maintains the citys security, is a rival to the Kurdistan Democratic Party that dominates the KRG and controls most of its oil revenues.

Kirkuk and nearby fields are producing about half a million barrels of oil daily, according to data supplied by the Oil Ministry and the KRG in September 2016. Most of the crude is exported through a Kurdish-controlled pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan. The KRG produces about 350,000 barrels a day, and the state-run North Oil Co. approximately 150,000. The two sides reached a deal in August 2016 allowing North Oil to export through the Kurdish pipeline. In return, the KRG takes a cut of the revenue and gets to export its own share of crude from Kirkuk. Iraq, the second-biggest OPEC member, pumped a total of 4.44 million barrels a day in February, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Oil prices fell more than 2 percent after the agreement as it was expected to increase exports by about 150,000 barrels.

The export deal doesnt address the competing claims to Kirkuks oil, or the larger dispute over the KRGs right to produce and export oil independently of the central government. The deal also left out Kirkuks PUK-led provincial government, stoking tensions between the two main Kurdish parties. On March 2, soldiers loyal to the PUK stormed North Oils main pumping facility at Kirkuk and briefly halted exports of more than 100,000 barrels a day. They threatened to cut off those exports permanently unless Iraqs Oil Ministry agreed to share revenue from crude pumped there and to develop local energy projects.

The KDP and PUK are uneasy coalition partners in the KRG, having fought a civil war with each other in the 1990s. They mobilized independently against Islamic State in 2014, a year when oil prices plunged by half, straining the KRGs budget. Tensions between them are at their highest level since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, says Shwan Zulal, managing director of Carduchi Consulting: Since the money ran out, theres been a bit of a fight for resources.

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Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi reached an agreement with the PUK in emergency talks on March 7, prompting the party to lift its immediate threat of shutting in exports. PUK officials said the prime minister had promised to implement an accord reached in January under which the Oil Ministry would give Kirkuk a share of oil revenues, develop local refineries and power plants, and also supply them with oil.

A collapse of this accord couldcut off North Oils access to the KRGs export pipeline and immediately remove at least 100,000 barrels a day from world markets. Perhaps more importantly, it could push the central government back into open dispute with the KRG, throwing up legal hurdles for anyone wanting to produce or transport crude from the Kurdish region itself. If the government doesnt abide by its commitments to Kirkuk, people across all communities and parties could rise up again, says Ahmed Al-Askari, head of the Kirkuk assemblys energy committee and a PUK member.

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A Squabble at Iraq's Oldest Oil Field Could Rock Global Supplies - Bloomberg

BAGHDAD (AP) Iraq's oil minister said on Sunday that his country plans to increase daily crude oil production to 5 million barrels by the end of this year, up from the current rate of about 4.4 million barrels per day, to secure sorely needed cash for its ailing economy.

Iraq, where oil revenues make up nearly 95 percent of the budget, has been reeling under an economic crisis since 2014, when oil prices began their descent from a high of above $100 a barrel. The Islamic State group's onslaught, starting in 2014, has exacerbated the situation forcing Iraq to divert much of its resources to a long and costly war.

Addressing an energy conference in Baghdad, Oil Minister Jabar Ali Al-Luaibi didn't give details on which of the country's oil fields would supply the increased output.

Late last year, Iraq joined a deal by OPEC and non-OPEC members to lower production for six months by 1.8 million barrels a day in order to prop up global oil prices. The mutual production decrease began on Jan. 1. Iraq's share in the deal is to reduce output by 210,000 barrels a day to 4.351 million barrels.

"There are positive elements in that deal and we achieved a lot of its targets," al-Luaibi told reporters on the sideline of the conference. "Work and cooperation are underway ... to reach the 1.8 (million barrels a day) reduction," he added, without divulging whether Iraq is going to support an extension to that deal.

OPEC Secretary General, Mohammed Barkindo, said the compliance among the participants was 86 percent in January and 94 percent in February. Barkindo told reporters that OPEC members would consider whether to extend the production decrease agreement at a meeting next month. The deal propped up the crude price to around $50 per barrel.

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Iraq holds the world's fourth-largest oil reserves. This year, it added 10 billion barrels, bringing its total reserves up to 153.1 billion barrels. Al-Luaibi also said that more 15 billion barrels are planned to be added by 2018.

Iraq's 2017 budget stands at about 100.67 trillion Iraqi dinars, or nearly $85.17 billion, running with a deficit of 21.65 trillion dinars, or about $18.32 billion. That's based on an estimated oil price of $42 per barrel and daily export capacity of 3.75 million barrels.

Iraq is also grappling with a major humanitarian crisis. The U.N. estimates that more than 3 million people have been forced from their homes since 2014. It also faces growing dissatisfaction among residents of areas recaptured from IS who have had their properties demolished and suffer from scarce public services.

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Iraq to Boost Crude Oil Production by Year's End: Minister - Fox Business

Russia's Ministry of Defense issued a statement Sunday that derides US officials' comments about the US-led coalition's possible role in more than 100 civilian deaths in Mosul last month.

"Absurd statements of the Pentagon representatives justifying civil casualties caused by American bombing in Iraq give more information on the operation planning level and the alleged supremacy of the American "smart" bombs," the statement reads.

The Russian ministry's statement references coalition spokesperson Col. Joseph Scrocca's comments from last week, when he told reporters that ""ISIS is smuggling civilians into buildings so we won't see them and trying to bait the coalition to attack."

Scrocca said the coalition had observed the new ISIS tactic on video surveillance, but US officials have not released the footage. The Russian ministry statement questions why the US military is only now revealing ISIS' alleged new tactic -- and asks why the coalition proceeded with the strike despite knowing about it.

"First, what are the motives of the American Command putting the veil of confidentiality and keeping secret the crimes of terrorists from the international community? Second, why (did) the US-led coalition, having this information, make strikes with their 'smart' bombs on buildings with civilians dooming them to a terrible death?"

Russia's ramped-up criticism follows reports of heavy civilian casualties in Mosul following a US airstrike in the city's al-Jadidah neighborhood on March 17.

Col. Mohammad Shumari, head of Iraqi civil forces working in the area, told CNN last week that 141 bodies had been removed from the location of that strike.

Last week Scrocca acknowledged "a coalition strike contributed in at least some way to the civilian casualties" in Mosul. The US has expanded its investigation into a formal review of all airstrikes in the area over a period of several days, the US military said Thursday.

The investigation was broadened after a US team visited the site of the March 17 airstrike and determined that there was evidence that the strike hit a house where civilians were located, a defense official told CNN.

The official said they are looking at any other factors that might have played into the civilian deaths, including the fact that ISIS tries to deceive US targeting. The US believes it can develop some "indicators" of when civilians are present, but the official declined to specify details due to security concerns.

Russia's withering condemnation of US actions in Iraq reverses a trend in the two countries' military campaigns in the Middle East. The US frequently criticized Russia for its "indiscriminate" airstrikes in Syria after Moscow began its air assault against rebel groups in late 2015.

Sunday's condemnation of US military action in Iraq comes on the heels of more scathing criticism from Moscow. Last week Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson challenged the integrity of US foreign policy after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that NATO needed to discuss "Russia's aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere."

The rising tensions are seen as an indication that the prospect of a new era of US-Russian relations under President Trump is under threat. Two administration officials told CNN on Thursday that Trump's hopes of striking a grand bargain with Russia have faded.

According to one senior administration official, this isn't necessarily because Trump's view of Russian President Vladimir Putin has evolved. But Trump believes in the current atmosphere -- with so much media scrutiny and ongoing probes into Trump-Russian ties and election meddling -- that it won't be possible to "make a deal," as the President himself has framed it, the official said.

CNN's Tim Lister, Radina Gigova, Barbara Starr and Ryan Brown contributed to this report

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Russia condemns US over 'absurd' response to Mosul civilian deaths - CNN

In Tal Afar District, northwest of Mosul, a dire lack of functional medical facilities is preventing the population from accessing health care. In response, MSF is expanding its activities in the area, opening a maternity clinic in October 2016 and, more recently, a stabilization unit and childrens ward in the village of Tal Maraq.

MSF started working in the area in 2015, as many medical structures were completely destroyed in conflict. Those that were not destroyed lacked basic medical materials, drugs, and human resources. They were unable to provide health care to the population.

"The region here is visibly affected by conflict," says Andrew Cullen, MSF field coordinator. "Some places seem untouched, while others are completely destroyed. Although there has been no active fighting for more than 18 months, the population has difficulties accessing health care."

People in the area have to travel over 100 kilometers [about 62 miles] to the nearest urban areas of Dohuk and Zakho to seek specialized medical care. This long and costly trip is an impossible undertaking for many in the region. As a consequence, medical emergencies can quickly become critical.

"We have started by providing care through mobile clinics," says Cullen. "Then we identified the need to assist women in their deliveries. When we had to refer critical cases to other hospitals for surgeries, for example, we understood what people endured to reach the nearest hospital. The need for stabilization and emergency care was obvious."

MSFs mobile medical teams have been running clinics in three villages in Tal Afar District since January 2015, providing general health care, mental health support, sexual and reproductive health care, and treatment for chronic diseases. In October 2016 MSF expanded its activities by opening a maternity clinic in Tal Maraq. From the opening of the clinic until February 2017, MSF teams assisted more than 500 deliveries in the Tal Maraq maternity facility, and a similar number of emergency referrals were made to Zakho.

Expanding Services

In March 2017, MSF added an inpatient department for pediatric cases to care for children under 12 years old in the same building, as well as a stabilization unit for adults with life-threatening conditions. These additions were made in anticipation of a potential influx of people fleeing from the military campaign in the cities of Mosul and Tal Afar, and to address the current lack of secondary health care facilities in the area.

"The original plan was to open only a maternity [unit]," says Ileana Boneschi, sexual and reproductive health manager in Tal Maraq. "But with the stabilization room and the pediatric inpatient department this is becoming a real hospital."

MSF has worked continuously in Iraq since 2006. In order to ensure its independence, MSF does not accept funding from any governments, religious organizations, or international agencies for its programs in Iraq, and relies solely on private donations from the general public around the world to carry out its work. MSF currently employs more than 1,600 staff in Iraq.

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Iraq: Providing Much-Needed Care in Tal Afar - ReliefWeb