Iraq expects to sign in January more long-term oil contracts with
customers for its Kirkuk crude, Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani
said Thursday, a sign of rising confidence by the war-torn country that
it can boost shipments.
"We expect to have these term contracts signed and announced
by the first of January," he told reporters on the sidelines of an
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries summit here.
Several international oil companies have submitted bids for the contracts, he said, declining to name them.
Last week, the country signed with Turkiye Petrol Rafinerileri
A.S., or Tupras, a term contract to lift 60,000 barrels a day
of Kirkuk crude from the storage tanks at the Turkish export terminal
of Ceyhan.
The term contracts suggest that the Iraqi government is more
confident about improved security in and around the Kirkuk pipeline and
about producing enhanced oil volumes from that region because such
contracts can run for several months.
This is in contrast to the tender contracts the Iraqi
government has signed with companies in the past which are typically
one-off deals.
Acts of sabotage had prevented Iraq from exporting its crude
oil from northern oil fields since the U.S.-led war against Iraq in
2003, barring sputtering shipments. But the past two months have seen
more reliable flows of crude, allowing Iraq to sell some 20.1 million
barrels of Kirkuk crude in competitive auctions.