Turkey's state oil company TPAO, state-owned pipeline and gas company BOTAS and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) Thursday signed a preliminary agreement for exploration, transportation and marketing of Iraqi natural gas, the Ihlas News Agency, or IHA, reported.
At a signing ceremony in the Turkish capital Ankara, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said Iraq will use the natural gas for its own needs at the first stage, then Turkey and Europe will start receiving a proportion of it, he said.