Iraq's president names intelligence chief as new prime minister after Zurfi quits

Dubai — Iraq's President Bahram Saleh named intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi as the new prime minister designate, state-run Iraqi News Agency reported Thursday, after Adnan al-Zurfi withdrew his candidacy amid political opposition to his nomination.

Kadhimi now has 30 days to form a government and get parliament's vote of confidence.

Zurfi said on Twitter he couldn't form a government for both local and non-domestic reasons.

Several Shiite political groups had opposed Zurfi's nomination and had been calling for him to be replaced by Kadhimi. Zurfi is the second candidate to withdraw from the prime minister race after Mohammad Allawi failed to win parliament's vote of confidence for his cabinet.

Iraq, OPEC's second largest oil producer, has been almost rudderless since November when Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi resigned in the face of mounting protests demanding political and economic change.

Iraq pumped around 4.5 million b/d of crude in March and has a production capacity of about 5 million b/d, Assem Jihad, spokesman for the oil ministry, said, INA reported n Wednesday.

In the latest S&P Global Platts OPEC survey, Iraq's production was estimated at 4.65 million b/d for March, above its 4.46 million b/d quota in the OPEC+ agreement that expired last month.