Iraq reaffirms OPEC membership while quietly pushing for a bigger slice of the pie

Iraq wants everyone to know it’s staying in OPEC. Whether OPEC gives Iraq what it actually wants is a different question entirely.

Oil Ministry spokesperson Salim Al-Rikabi confirmed on June 25 that Iraq has no plans to withdraw from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The statement was aimed squarely at tamping down speculation that Baghdad might follow the United Arab Emirates out the door, after the UAE left OPEC months earlier to pursue its own production ambitions.

Iraq isn’t just reaffirming loyalty for the sake of it. The country is simultaneously pressing OPEC for a higher production quota, a move that puts it in an awkward position: committed to the club’s rules, but openly unhappy with how those rules apply to it.

What Iraq actually wants

Iraq is one of the five founding members of OPEC, which was established in 1960. That founding status carries weight in Baghdad, both as a point of national pride and as leverage in negotiations over production ceilings.