Iraq, China discuss oil cooperation, field development

Baghdad (Platts)--2Jun2005

Iraq and China discussed how the middle kingdom might help Baghdad's oil
industry recover from years of war and economic sanctions, Iraq's Oil Ministry
spokesman Asim Jihad told Platts Thursday. 

Discussions were held Wednesday during a meeting between Iraq's Oil Minister
Ibrahim Mohammed Bahr al-Oloum and China's Ambassador to Iraq, he said. Jihad
quoted the Ambassador as "expressing the strong interest of Chinese oil
companies to cooperate in the exploration, extraction, refining and
petrochemical sectors." The two parties also discussed reactivating a deal
signed in 1997 between China National Petroleum Corp and the Saddam Hussein
government to develop the Ahdab oilfield south of Baghdad. The Ahdab field
holds an estimated 600-mil tons of crude reserves. The deal was suspended once
UN sanctions were put in place.

Uloum stressed the Iraqi government's interest in cooperating with China,
emphasizing that Iraq is currently selling crude to three major Chinese
companies and that that Baghdad would like to expand its oil sales to China,
Jihad said. To that end, the Iraqi Oil Marketing Co has drawn up a plan to
increase oil exports to China within the next six months.

This story was originally published in Platts Global Alert
http://www.globalalert.platts.com

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