The United Nations says a team of its oil experts has arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to investigate how Iraq can increase its oil production and export capacity.

The team is expected to stay about two weeks -- they will look at what spare parts are needed for the oil industry and assess whether foreign investment would help the sector.

The UN imposed stringent sanctions on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, and Iraq is exporting an average of slightly more than two-billion barrels a day under the current phase of the UN oil-for-food programme.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service