BP and Shell win Iraq oil bids

BP and Shell win Iraq oil bids

BP and Shell win Iraq oil bids

BP and Shell have won bids to buy oil from Iraq.

They are among four firms who have won contracts to buy crude oil from Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation.

US energy group ChevronTexaco Corp and Swiss trading firm Taurus also won the right to buy similar size amounts of Basra light crude, according to SOMO officials.

BP and Shell will both have the option to buy two million barrels.

BP said its shipment was for the US market.

Shell declined to say where its share would be sent to.

The announcement marks the first sale of crude pumped in Iraq since the end of the war. Iraq is thought to have the second largest oil reserves outside of Saudi Arabia.