ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq is ready to reduce its record oil production if other producers agree on a deal to cut output, shoring up prices that are at a 12-year low, Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari said. "Iraq is a founding member of OPEC, so we will definitely take part, and the idea would be to reduce production actually to impact the oil price," Zebari said, according to a Reuters report on Wednesday. Fellow OPEC member Venezuela wants a meeting of producers since its economy is in dire straits and it wants the price of oil brought up to help it cope. "Not sure we will say ‘yes’ to Venezuela because we need to produce more because of the challenges we have," Zebari said. "But if we believe there would be a consensus, a collective decision, then we might go with it." So far inside OPEC, only Venezuela and Algeria have said they will back limits to oil production. But OPEC giant Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia have not endorsed such a move. Zebari noted that any decision to curtail production “needs to be a collective one, otherwise it will not work; it doesn't seem there is a consensus." Oil prices have fallen from $100 two years ago to $30. That has had a huge impact on Iraq, which is largely dependent on oil revenues to cope with huge economic challenges, as well as the continued war effort against the Islamic State (ISIS) group.
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