Iraq, currently the second largest crude oil supplier to India, has assured it to provide as much oil as it could to fulfill the needs of the growing Indian economy.
"Iraq is willing to assist, to provide or to meet as much as it could (to fulfill) the needs of Indian economy," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told PTI in Baghdad.
Top Iraqi officials believe that India with its strong economic growth will be needing more fuel particularly crude oil and oil-rich Iraq is in a unique position to supply and meet that demand.
Iraq produces 3.15 million barrels a day of crude and plans to double the output by 2020.
Pointing out that Iraq has the world's third largest proven oil reserves and is now second largest oil supplier to India, Zebari said Iraqi potentials are huge in the coming decades.
In recent months, Iraq has replaced sanctions-hit Iran as India's second largest crude oil supplier.
Indian oil refineries purchased nearly 20 per cent of Iraq's crude oil production last year and they are hoping to take it above 30 per cent in future, the sources said.
India has reduced its dependence on Iranian oil in the wake of US and EU sanctions on the import of oil from the Islamic Republic.
Zebari underlined the importance of External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid's two-day official tour to Iraq, saying, "This visit is very important visit for Iraq-India relations".
Khurshid, who visited Iraq on June 19-20, was the first senior Indian minister to tour the war-ravaged country in last 23 years. Former External Affairs Minister I K Gujral had visited Iraq in 1990.
"This visit will open some major inroads towards better cooperation between the two countries in many areas of common interests, trade, business, investment and also Indian expertise for Iraqi economy and in all the areas of mutual cooperation," Zebari said.
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