Iraq may demand higher OPEC quota, but unlikely to quit in Oil & Companies News 04/06/2026 Once the Middle East war dust clears away and the region is back to normal, Iraq could renew demands for higher OPEC oil production quota. Analysts believe Iraq could be motivated by the UAE’s decision to exit OPEC and the fact that its current quota is way below its capacity. But some experts believe Iraq will unlikely follow the UAE suit and quit the group since Baghdad is where the group was born in 1960 and such a move could lead to a collapse of prices. “After the UAE’s withdrawal from OPEC, Saudi Arabia will continue to lead the organisation,” said Ziad Al-Hashmi, a member of Iraq’s economists’ network. “But I believe the UAE’s decision will open the door for higher production quotas by some OPEC members, particularly Iraq,” he told Zawya Projects. In September last year, Iraq’s then prime minister Mohammed Al-Sudani used an international energy forum in Baghdad to demand a higher OPEC quota. Al-Sudani justified his demand to what he described as Iraq’s enormous crude resources, large population, its growing oil production capacity and the need for more petrodollars to fund post-conflict development needs. Al-Sudani put Iraq’s recoverable crude oil deposits at around 150 billion barrels, enough for 120 years, adding that these vast reserves allow Iraq to contribute to balancing the rights of producers and consumers. “But our oil export quota (in OPEC Plus) does not match our crude reserves and production capacity…nor does it match Iraq’s population and its need for revenues to finance reconstruction and services in a country which is exhausted by wars and conflicts,” Al-Sudani said in his speech, published online by his office. “We hope that our brothers and friends will understand more profoundly Iraq’s development and economic needs and reconsider the output quota allocated to our country on the basis of its real oil potential.” Before the six-week war between Iran