July 24, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1424

LONDON, July 23: British oil major BP and Anglo-Dutch group Royal Dutch/Shell have both agreed to buy 10 million barrels of Iraqi crude, the companies said on Wednesday, the first long-term deal for Iraq’s oil since the end of war.

“We can confirm that we’ve been offered by Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Corporation (SOMO) ... a term contract from August 1 which will go through until December 31,” a Shell spokeswoman told AFP.

“It’s to receive one very large crude carrier of two million barrels per month for five months of Basrah light crude,” she said.

The oil would be shipped from the Gulf export terminal at Mina al-Bakr in southern Iraq, she added.

A BP spokesman confirmed that the company had signed a similar deal for 10 million barrels over five months, giving no further details.

Two weeks ago, both BP and Royal Dutch/Shell bought two million barrels each of Iraqi crude in a separate deal.

On Wednesday it was reported that Iraq’s oil ministry had finalized an “optimistic” plan to boost oil production to 1.5 million barrels per day by October, rising to 2.8 million by April 2004.

The target figures depends on the “necessary security, electric power and finance” being in place, the Cyprus-based Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) said in a report.—AFP