Singapore (Platts)--4Jun2012/402 am EDT/802 GMT

Iran and Iraq reiterated their cooperation in various areas such as refining, increasing exports of oil and gas products as well as development of shared fields, local news agencies reported Monday.

The agreements were reached during a three-day visit by Iranian oil minister Rostam Ghasemi to Iraq.

"During this trip, good coordination and exchange of opinions were made about oil product exports, construction of Iran's gas export pipeline to Iraq and training of Iraq's technical personnel," Ghasemi was quoted as saying by the ministry's news service Shana after the minister's return on Sunday.

Ghasemi signed a memorandum of understanding with his Iraqi counterpart, Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi, including collaboration on the development of shared oil and gas fields.

In 2010, Iraq's oil minister signed an agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company to come up with the framework for the joint development of oil and gas fields shared by both countries. Meanwhile, Iran said early this year that the cooperation would be based on service contracts for the Dehloran, Mehr, Naftshahr, Sohrab and West Paydar fields.

Ghasemi, who described the result of his visit as good, also met Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the deputy prime minister for energy Hussain Ibrahim Saleh al-Shahristani.

"Based on the agreement between Iranian and Iraqi officials, it was agreed that oil products and LPG, totally worth around $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, be exported to Iraq on an annual basis," Alireza Zayghami, Iran's deputy oil minister for oil products, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Oil products, including kerosene and gasoil, would be exported from the Iranian ports of Mahshahr and Bandar Abbas as well as via road, he said.

"Also, the agreement sees cooperation between Iran's refining industry and Iraq's refineries in the fields of technology, logistics and training, especially safety issues," Zayghami said.

"Based on initial agreements for cooperation ... to build a refinery in Iraq, the two sides hope to provide the investment from third countries for this project," the Iranian official said.

"Iran will only participate in its construction," he said, adding that the project would not put any financial burden on the country.

--Aresu Eqbali, newsdesk@platts.com

--Edited by E Shailaja Nair, shailaja_nair@platts.com shailaja_nair@platts.com

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