Iraq's Electricity Minister Luay Khatib, Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadhban, and the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol give a press conference at the Iraqi Oil Ministry's headquarters in the capital Baghdad on April 25, 2019.

ABU DHABI — Iraq will immediately comply with OPEC production cuts after months of overproduction, its oil minister told CNBC on Tuesday.

The second-largest crude producer in the 14-member organization is often labeled OPEC's 'problem child' for chronically overproducing even as the group tries to curb output during a time of low oil prices.

In August, Baghdad reported its highest oil production on record at 4.6 million barrels per day (bpd), a volume that has increased steadily over the past few years despite nearly two decades of war and a bloody three-year battle to drive out the so-called Islamic State (IS).

"We are trying to adhere to our commitment that we have agreed on the third of December last year with our colleagues in OPEC and outside OPEC, but with difficulties, of course," Iraqi Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban told CNBC at the 24th annual World Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi.

Among those difficulties are disputes with the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), which holds roughly 30% of Iraq's proven oil reserves, as well as the country's high domestic power demand during Iraq's hot summer months.

"Right away from now, from this month, we will go back to normal and... crude oil for power generation will be down to about 80,000, 85,000 (bpd) instead of 205,000," the minister said.

In recent weeks, Iraq has had to refine some 200,000 bpd for local power generation, Ghadhban explained, compared to the domestic demand in winter of about 75,000 bpd. This production came in addition to the increase in production and export capacity from the KRG, he said.