Iraq may seek exemption from OPEC deal

Iraq may seek to be exempt from a deal between oil exporters to reduce global supply in order to support crude prices and ask to boost its own output, the leader of the nation's Shi'ite ruling coalition Ammar al-Hakim said.

Hakim cautioned that Baghdad could ask to be exempted from taking part in the supply curbs as the nation needed its oil income to fight ISIS.

"Given these sensitive circumstances, it is the right of Iraq to hope for an exemption by the other OPEC member states and have an opportunity to increase its production," Reuters cited Hakim as saying.

"But we are with the principle of reducing the overall OPEC supply to lift prices," he added.