EIA: Iraq production delayed further; Nigeria market remains constrained By OGJ editors HOUSTON, May 13 -- The US Energy Information Administration reported Sunday that Thamir Abbas Ghadban, the newly appointed head of Iraq's oil sector, "was more pessimistic about prospects for a quick recovery in oil production" than he was last week when he indicated that crude oil production could reach 1.5 million b/d by the end of June. He reportedly now believes it will take longer to reach that level, but said he was still confident that Iraq could reach its prewar production levels by the end of 2003. Meanwhile, Kuwait, Turkey, and Jordan have been exporting gasoline and propane to Iraq since last week, EIA said. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia Monday informed markets that it will cut its international oil shipments significantly in June in compliance with last month's decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Kuwait's acting oil minister said he expects OPEC to make further cuts at the cartel's next meeting, slated for June 11 in Doha, Qatar. Iran's oil minister said Tuesday, however, that OPEC members had not yet decided about decreasing output. Nigerian output Ethnic unrest in the Niger Delta continues to constrain oil output in Nigeria, with about 200,000 b/d still disrupted, including 30,000 b/d shut in at Royal Dutch/Shell's Forcados field due to a pipeline ruptured by saboteurs. A Shell spokesman said Monday that the damage from Friday's incident should be repaired Tuesday. Despite recent increases, ChevronTexaco Corp. also has not yet reached preshutdown production levels of 440,000 b/d at Escravos field. The company has said it would not increase Escravos production to preshutdown levels until the region is safe. Total SA (formerly TotalFinaElf SA) also said it would not resume production of 7,500 b/d of shut-in Nigerian production until Nigeria's security situation stabilizes. Current oil production from Nigerian stands at 2 million b/d, compared with 2.2 million b/d in February, EIA said. In addition to the oil constraints, ExxonMobil Corp.'s Nigeria unit Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. declared force majeure the first week of May on exports of Oso field condensate and natural gas liquids following a fire last week at the Oso platform 25 miles off southeastern Nigeria. The shut-in reportedly affects 95,000 b/d of condensate and 45,000 b/d of NGL. An investigation is underway but the company gave no indication of how long production would be disrupted. A company statement said the fire was under control within a matter of hours and that there were no injuries and no hydrocarbon liquids released into the water.