Iraq will remain committed to OPEC’s decisions on oil output as it nudges crude exports higher in December.

The country will export 2.8 million barrels a day this month, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said Sunday, up from 2.7 million in November. It will start shipping a new medium grade of its flagship Basrah crude in January and try to maximize its output of light oil, he told reporters in Baghdad.

Iraq is interested in increasing prices rather than sales volumes, and several companies are bidding to buy oil in its first pre-payment deal for long-term supply, he said. Baghdad is seeking a $2 billion upfront payment in exchange for a long-term crude contract. The proposal is unusual among oil producing-nations, and it underscores the country’s financial distress and need for cash.

Jabbar’s comments were his first public remarks on oil since the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia agreed last week to boost output in January by 500,000 barrels a day. Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, is struggling to pay its bills with crude prices at current levels and has been chafing under its output cap.

The government expects crude to exceed $50 per barrel next year and is basing its 2021 budget on an assumed price of $42, Jabbar said. Brent crude ended trading last week at $49.25 per barrel, down 25% for this year.

Iraq’s monthly export figures exclude sales by its semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which the government in Baghdad expects will ship 250,000 barrels a day next year. The new medium grade of Basrah crude will add to the existing light and heavy Basrah grades, Jabbar said.

Exxon Mobil Corp. won’t sell its stake in the huge West Qurna-1 field, he said. Bloomberg reported last month that China’s oil giants China National Petroleum Corp. and CNOOC Ltd. are considering acquiring Exxon Mobil’s 32.7% share in the field, a sale that could fetch at least $500 million.

Iraq, which also has significant deposits of natural gas, plans by the end of the year to announce winners in bidding to develop the Mansuriya gas field, Jabbar said. The Oil Ministry first awarded rights to the field northeast of Baghdad in 2010 but has been unable to develop it.

Iraq targets a deal for the Akkas gas deposit in western Anbar province within six months, he said. Baghdad recaptured both Mansuriya and Akkas from Islamic State militants in late 2017. It’s also considering a bidding round for gas rights in Diyala province east of Baghdad, Jabbar said.