BAGHDAD -- Iraq's northern Kirkuk oil pipeline, crucial to raising Iraqi crude exports, will reopen very soon, Iraq's acting Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban said.

"There was no problem with the line itself. The control station unfortunately was looted. We are installing one as a short-term remedy," Ghadhban told a press conference in Baghdad. "We hope to begin pumping very soon."

His comments appear to confirm Baghdad's intention of raising crude exports to help fund the post-war rebuilding program, despite doubts about the pipeline's condition, Reuters reported.

Colonel Robert Nicholson, the U.S. army engineer responsible for a region through which the pipeline runs, told Reuters on Wednesday it would be back in action in the middle of next week.

Adel al-Kazzaz the head of the Northern Oil Company that runs the Kirkuk oilfields, had said earlier on Wednesday he was worried the line was not yet fit to resume operations.

One of two main Iraqi export routes, the Kirkuk line runs north through Turkey to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. It has been closed since the U.S. occupation.

Ghadhban said that, short-term, Iraq's production target remains unchanged at 1-1.5 million barrels per day by end-October. Iraq's U.S. Governor Paul Bremer said at the weekend that production already was 1.2 million bpd. But reopening the Kirkuk pipeline will allow more of Iraq's oil to be exported, instead of being reinjected back into the oilfields.

Ghadhban did not comment on likely Kirkuk export volumes but other officials have said initial supplies should run at about 250,000 bpd.

Nicholson said that current pipeline capacity was 500,000 bpd with two major repair projects needed to lift capacity to 850,000 bpd in about four months time.

Oilfield exports so far have been restricted to southern Iraq where supplies through the Gulf Mina al-Bakr terminal in August are planned at 650,000 bpd.

Ghadhban said overall production capacity of two million bpd is planned by the end of the year, compared to pre-war capacity of 2.8 million bpd.

He also said Baghdad had no plans to leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"Iraq was a founding member of this organization. I expect that when an Iraqi government is formed Iraq will continue with activities in the organization," he said.

Iraq's Governing Council is hoping to hold elections in the middle of next year. OPEC has said it will wait for a full Iraqi government before it invites a representative from Baghdad to OPEC meetings.

Ghadhban said pressure on domestic Iraqi fuel needs was easing as more of Iraq's network of small refineries came back onstream.