The Iraqi government is inviting oil multinationals to participate for the first time in the development of the oil industry, without waiting for the passage of crucial, but contentious, hydrocarbons legislation.

In a sign that the oil law the US has been pressing for is unlikely to be agreed by parliament soon, Hussain Shahristani, Iraq's oil minister, said in an interview with the Financial Times that Iraq was now determined to push ahead with plans to raise production from a current 2.5m barrels per day to 6m bpd in five years.