The near daily stream of violence in Iraq is a bitter reminder that the country is still far away from stabilizing and that the Sunni-Shiite divide, which has led to over 6000 deaths in 2013, appears wider than ever. Despite this climate of uncertainty and destruction, Iraq's top energy official told CNN that the country's oil production will continue to climb -- reaching at least 3.5 million barrels a day by the end of the year. Hussain al-Shahristani, the Deputy Prime Minister for Energy, said two new fields in southern Iraq, near Nasiriyah and Basra, have revved up production. "These two fields will add between them 300 thousand barrels. There's extra production from the other fields so when you add them up you will get to 3.5, 3.6 million barrels a day by the end of the year," Shahristani told me during a one-on-one interview at the Gulf Intelligence conference in Dubai.
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The violence in Iraq is a reminder the country is far from stable, but oil production is set to rise this year
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Its forecasts have previously been ratcheted down and more realistic targets set
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Deputy PM Hussain al-Shahristani said new fields would add to production
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Thawing relations between Tehran and Washington could assist in this
@placeholder has had difficulty managing expectations over the past few years.