Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 21 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /
Closing the Strait of Hormuz will halve Iraqi oil exports, Iraqi Planning Minister Ali Al-Shukri said in an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV Channel on Tuesday.
"It would be impossible to immediately find alternative sources to fill the oil shortage," Al-Shukri said.
He said last year 1.7 million barrels per day of Iraq's total exports of 2.4 million barrels per day were exported from the port of Basra to the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iraq is worried about the possible closure of the strait and is looking for other ways to export oil, Al-Shukri said.
According to BP, Iraq's proven oil reserves as of early 2011 amounted to 115 billion barrels. The country ranks third after Saudi Arabia and Iran.
According to BP, oil production in Iraq was 2.4 million barrels of oil per day in 2010, or 0.6 per cent more than in 2009.
Earlier, an official representative from the Iraqi Oil Ministry told Trend that the country plans to produce over 3.42 million barrels of oil per day in 2012.
The major oil fields in Iraq are Rumaila, Zubair, Nahr Umr, Majnoon and West Qurna.