| 2007: Iraq Issues Tender To Sell 3M Barrels Kirkuk Crude |
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6/25/2007 AMMAN -(Dow Jones)- Iraq issued Monday a tender to sell 3 million barrels of Kirkuk crude pumped through a northern pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, a senior official with the state oil marketer SOMO said. The crude oil should be loaded in 1-million or 2-million barrel cargoes from the Turkish terminal by July 23, the official said. He said the deadline for bids for the tender is 1700 GMTJuly 2 and results would be announced 48 hours after the closing date. The new sales would be the first since mid-January when SOMO sold 3 million barrels of Kirkuk crude, 1 million barrels to each of Spain's Compania Espanola de Petroleos SA (CEP.MC), or Cepsa, France's Total SA (TOT) and Italy's ERG ( ERG.MI). Last year, SOMO held five tenders totaling around 10 million barrels of Kirkuk crude on the international market. Persistent sabotage against pipelines and oil installations has kept exports from the north shut for most of the time since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iraq exports the bulk of its crude oil from southern oil outlets, selling an average of 1.5 million barrels a day. -By Hassan Hafidh, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; + 962 777 612 111; hafidh8@hotmail.com Iraq Issues Tender To Sell 3M Barrels Kirkuk Crude - Source |