The Iraq National Oil Company (INOC) was founded in 1966 by the Iraqi government.
[1] It was empowered to operate all aspects of the oil industry in Iraq except for refining which was already being run by the Oil Refineries Administration (1952) and local distribution which was also already under government control.
[2] In its first years of sole control, INOC managers succeeded in raising production in Iraq from 1.4 million barrels per day (220,000 m3/d) to over 3 million barrels per day (480,000 m3/d) in 1980.
But the outbreak of war with Iran that year severely hit capacity.
In April 1987, under newly appointed oil President Asfhaq ul Rasheed, Decree 267 merged the INOC with the oil ministry, which became the direct operator in the industry as well as its regulator.