Iraqi Oil Minister Bassem Muhammad Khudair said on Saturday that his country produces more than 5 million barrels of oil per day.
A conflict that lasted for years caused severe damage to Iraq. It forced him to significantly reduce his exports, and deprived the state of oil revenues, which constituted 88 percent of government revenues last year.
The Iraqi News Agency quoted the minister as saying, “Iraq produces more than 5 million barrels of oil daily, and there is a difference between the production capacity and its export capacity for Iraq.” He stated that OPEC imposes on Iraq a production capacity of up to 4 million and 330 thousand barrels per day at a time when production exceeds the ceiling of 5 million barrels, indicating that the Ministry of Oil is committed to the export ceiling set by OPEC.
He added, “There is a dialogue with OPEC to raise the ceiling on exports, given the specificity that Iraq enjoys and the nature of the circumstances it has gone through over the past five decades, and Iraq deserves to raise production rates in order to provide the necessary financial returns to develop infrastructure and implement government plans.”
Iraq is moving towards implementing plans to raise crude oil production rates to 10 million barrels per day by 2030, in cooperation with major international oil companies. American companies, most notably ExxonMobil and Chevron, are currently engaged in negotiations in Iraq to win investments in the “West Qurna I” and “Majnoon” fields, which are two of the giant fields in Iraq, and other fields in Dhi Qar Governorate, to support Iraq’s plans to increase the production capacities of crude oil.
The Chinese Central Bank continued to buy gold in October, as part of its operations that it began two years ago, while the precious metal declined by about 7 percent, ending the month at a level below the $4,000 per ounce barrier.
According to official data issued on Saturday, the volume of bullion holdings at the People’s Bank of China increased by 830,000 ounces in October, or about 25.8 metric tons, according to Bloomberg News Agency, on Saturday.
This is the 24th consecutive month of purchases, which the Central Bank has enhanced in recent months, with the decline in gold prices, as the total quantities added in the first ten months of the year amounted to about 129 metric tons.
The Office of US Trade Representative Jemison Greer announced that the administration of President Donald Trump informed a senior Chinese official that Beijing must immediately implement its obligations under a trade agreement concluded nearly a year ago, especially with regard to the supply of strategic minerals and other vital minerals, as well as purchases of agricultural products.
The US Treasury Department and the US Trade Representative's Office stated that Secretary Scott Besant and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer issued the directive during a phone call, on Friday evening, with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in which they urged him to implement the terms of the agreement that was reached in Busan, South Korea, in November 2025.
Greer’s office said in a statement: “During the call, Ambassador Greer stressed the critical importance of China taking concrete actions to fully implement its previous commitments, particularly with regard to agricultural procurement, strategic minerals and other vital minerals.”
This call comes ahead of the two most recent meetings expected this year between Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Summit in Shenzhen, China, on November 18 and 19, and the G20 Leaders' Summit in Miami, Florida, on December 14 and 15.
Greer said the Trump administration will seek to balance trade with China by “monitoring compliance with previous commitments while achieving lasting benefits for American farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, and workers.”
Greer, Picent and other American officials have repeatedly complained about the difficulties faced by American companies in obtaining sufficient quantities of strategic and other vital minerals from China, under the Busan agreement, which they say aims to lift the restrictions imposed in 2025, during a period of sharp escalation in customs duties between the two largest economies in the world.
The Busan trade agreement, which expires on January 10, set a ceiling for US tariffs on Chinese goods imposed during Trump's second term at about 20 percent. China pledged to purchase 25 million tons of American soybeans over the next three years, and to increase its purchases of other American agricultural goods by $17 billion.
“I stressed the importance of China fully and promptly fulfilling its commitments, expressed my concern about China’s latest actions, and stressed that progress depends on tangible results,” Besant said in a post on social media.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that the United States “will closely evaluate China’s implementation of the agreement.”
Beijing indicated that tariff concessions remain at the core of its goals. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that Beijing is open to purchasing more American agricultural products, but only if the two sides implement their mutual agreement to reduce tariffs.
Following the September summit between Xi and Trump in Washington, the two sides proposed a package of mutual reductions in customs duties amounting to $60 billion, including approximately $17 billion in American agricultural products imported by China in 2024, although the plan has not yet been decided.
The White House announced, in May, that Beijing had agreed to purchase US agricultural goods worth $17 billion annually starting in 2026, with this year’s target adjusted on a pro-rata basis. These purchases come in addition to a commitment China made in October last year to buy American soybeans.
