Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 22 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /
Iraq intends to increase oil storage capacity to 7.8 million barrels per day until late 2012, an Iraqi government source told Trend.
He said Iraq is building eight new oil reservoirs in the Al Faw peninsula in the south which will increase the storage capacity by 2.8 million barrels per day. This will increase the export capacity of the southern provinces of Iraq from 1.9 million to four million barrels of oil.
In July, Iraq brought oil exports to 2.516 million barrels per day compared to 2.403 million barrels per day in June.
According to BP, Iraq's proven oil reserves as of late 2011 amounted to 143.1 billion barrels. The country ranks third in OPEC after Saudi Arabia and Iran. Oil production in Iraq was 2.798 million barrels of oil per day as of late 2011.
The major oil fields of Iraq are Rumaila, Zubair, Nahr Umr, Majnoon and West Qurna in the south of the country. Some 80 per cent of oil produced in the country is exported.