Turkey's TPAO in talks with Shell over Iraq oil

"As TPAO ... we have started talks with Shell and several other oil companies for a partnership," Reuters quoted TPAO General Manager Mehmet Uysal as saying.

A Shell spokesman declined immediate comment.Â

Officials had previously said the deals, which are aimed at lifting output at Iraq's largest producing fields by a combined 500,000 barrels a day, would be announced on June 30.

Iraq wants to ramp up production by 500,000 barrels per day from the current average production of 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), a level about equal to before the United States-led invasion in March 2003.

Monthly exports of 2.11 million bpd currently form the bulk of the war-torn nation’s revenues, and the oil ministry is keen to raise capacity over the next five years to 4.5 million barrels per day.

Iraq’s crude reserves are estimated at about 115 billion barrels, but it is sorely lacking in infrastructure and the latest technology to which it was denied access under years of international sanctions after the 1991 Gulf War.

In the absence of a long-delayed national oil law, Baghdad has been negotiating short-term technical service contracts. The deals are worth around $500 million each.

Five of the deals that have been under discussion are with Royal Dutch Shell, Shell in partnership with BHP Billiton, BP, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron in partnership with Total.

Photo: Reuters