Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — Iraq, a leading ally of neighboring Iran, plans to challenge Saudi Arabia’s dominance of the global energy market.

Officials and analysts said the Shi’ite government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki was working to triple crude oil capacity by 2020 in an effort to end Riyad’s role in the energy market.

The officials said the effort was being coordinated with Iran, for years the No. 4 oil exporter.

“We feel the world needs to be assured of fuel for economic growth,” Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Al Shahristani told an energy conference in London last month.

The Iraqi effort has been bolstered by the cooperation of Western energy
majors, including Britain’s BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

Al Shahristani said Baghdad hoped to reach a crude oil production capacity of nine million barrels per day by the end of the decade.

  BP, Hussein Al Shahristani, Iraq targets Saudi oil dominance, Nouri Al Maliki, plans to triple output by 2020, Royal Dutch Shell