19-04-04

Four European firms and one from the United States have been awarded bids for the purchase of 6 mm barrels of oil from Iraq's northern fields, a spokesman for the Iraqi oil ministry said.

Assem Jihad said US major ExxonMobil had acquired one-third of the offer in its second purchase in a month of oil from the Kirkuk fields. The others, which each took up 1 mm barrels, were named as Spain's Repsol-YPF and Cepsa, Hellenic Petroleum from Greece and Tupras of Turkey.

In a first auction last month no US firm was successful, the winners being Shell, France's Total, ENI of Italy, Repsol-YPF, Hellenic Petroleum and Tupras, with 1 mm barrels each. The oil will be piped for loading at Turkey's Mediterranean terminal of Ceyhan.

The pipeline became operational last month after being largely out of use since last August, following the invasion of US-led forces and the ousting of dictator Saddam Hussein. Saddam loyalists and other insurgents were blamed for a series of attacks on the pipeline which disrupted flow.

Source: The Age Company Ltd