WASHINGTON — Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Al Shahristani said Baghdad, with production of two million barrels per day, plans to double oil output by 2010.

The minister reported a steady increase of oil production in 2006 amid efforts to protect the nation's energy infrastructure.

"We are increasing production," Al Shahristani said on July 26 during a meeting with representatives of major U.S. oil companies.

The minister briefed BP America, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell on the prospect of participating in Oil Ministry exploration and development projects, Middle East Newsline reported. He said the ministry has not been negotiating with any U.S. firm.

Iraq was said to have proven oil reserves of 115 billion barrels.

Meanwhile, Iran has sought to avoid gasoline rationing.

Officials said the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad intends to use its foreign currency reserves to pay for fuel imports. The government, in response to parliament's reduced budget for gasoline imports, plans to stop importing fuel on Sept. 23 and enact rationing.

"A bill to withdraw a sum of $4 billion to $4.5 billion from the Oil Stabilization Fund will be submitted to parliament for importing gasoline and diesel in the coming days," parliament's Energy Committee chairman Kamal Daneshyar said.

Iran, which lacks refinery capacity, imports about 40 percent of the 70 million litres of daily gasoline consumption. The Central Bank has warned against using Iran's foreign reserves to pay for gasoline imports, saying this would increase the current inflation rate of 12.1 percent.