Iraq may increase oil output further in 2016, although less dramatically than this year, intensifying a battle for market share between OPEC members and non-OPEC rivals that has forced Baghdad to sell some crude grades for as little as $30 a barrel. Iraq's output in 2015 has jumped almost 500,000 barrels per day, or 13%, according to the International Energy Agency. That has made Iraq the world's fastest source of supply growth and a key driver of surging OPEC production, Reuters reported. At most, that growth is likely to give way to a modest rise next year, easing downward pressure on prices that are close to a 2009 low. But a lifting of sanctions on Iran or an easing of violence in Libya could further boost OPEC supplies, without cutbacks by Saudi Arabia or other members. Iraq plans to export 3-3.2 million bpd from the south in 2016, an Iraqi oil source told Reuters. The country's exports were held back by decades of war and sanctions, but growth follows investment by oil companies in the southern oilfields and the restart of northern exports.
