Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said on Tuesday that Iraq needed a fair share within OPEC after he was asked by reporters whether he was considering leaving the oil producer group.
Zaidi is on a trip to Washington as he aims to secure major U.S. investment in his country’s oil, gas, and power sectors after the Iran war hammered crude output and state finances. “Iraq is one of the founding members of OPEC… Our right is to receive a fair share for Iraq,” he told reporters at the White House during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Zaidi highlighted Iraq’s past conflicts with the Islamic State, which he said had imposed enormous costs on the country and devastated its infrastructure.
“The damage suffered by Iraq exceeds $400 billion, and to this day some Iraqis still have destroyed homes and are living in camps. I have a plan to return them to their homes, and that is why I want a fair share for Iraq in OPEC,” he said.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington, Muayad Hameed in Baghdad and Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo, writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by David Ljunggren and Caitlin Webber)