By IANS,
Baghdad : The Iraqi government has nominated ex-oil minister Tamer al-Ghadban for the post of the secretary general of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), an official said Tuesday.
“The council of ministers approved the nomination of Tamer al-Ghadban as the next secretary general of the OPEC,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.
Ghadban was appointed as Iraq’s oil minister under the government of then prime minister Ayad Allawi in 2004, and is now chief adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
On Monday, Iraq announced that its oil production increased to over three million barrels a day, and is planning to increase its oil output and export capacity in the coming years after Baghdad signed service contracts with international oil firms to develop 12 oil fields across the country, Xinhua reported.
The country depends on oil revenues for nearly 95 percent of its budget.