Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (24394)	7/9/2003 8:46:41 AM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 206223

UPDATE - US, UK majors take lion's share in Iraq oil tender Wednesday July 9, 7:02 am ET (Updates with loading dates para 6) LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. and UK-based oil majors have taken the lion's share of Iraq's second post-Saddam crude oil sell tender, companies confirmed on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT A Royal Dutch/Shell (London:SHEL.L - News; Amsterdam:RD.AS - News) spokesman said the major had been awarded two million barrels of Basra Light crude in the tender, which closed on Monday, joining U.S. ChevronTexaco (NYSE:CVX - News) and BP (London:BP.L - News), who both confirmed winning earlier. The fourth cargo went to Swiss-based trading house Taurus, the first trader to win a cargo since the U.S. invasion. Baghdad had expressed a preference for refiners in the tender. It is the first time the British companies have been awarded Iraqi crude since the U.S.-led invasion. ChevronTexaco won its first Basra Light cargo in the previous tender. Iraqi officials are due to confirm the awards later on Wednesday. Six million barrels of the crude are bound for U.S. shores, two-thirds of that to the West Coast, while Shell is likely to take its cargo into northwest Europe, market sources say. Taurus will load the first cargo on July 10, followed by BP around July 13, Chevron in the July 20-25 window and Shell on July 26-28, they added. Sources initially indicated that Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras, a frequent direct buyer of Iraqi crude under the old U.N. system, had won the fourth cargo, but that stem now appears to have been awarded to Shell. Iraq tendered to sell eight million barrels of Basra Light crude from the Gulf port of Mina al-Bakr for lifting July 10-31. At least three of the cargoes will be heading to U.S. shores. This is the first time Iraq has sold crude produced since the unseating of Saddam Hussein, as its first tender in June sold oil that had been sitting in storage for months. ChevronTexaco, a big user of Iraqi oil for its U.S. West Coast refineries, is the only company to win in both tenders, while its U.S. rival Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM - News) has yet to buy a single barrel directly. Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) continued to choose a wide array of winners, as BP and Shell joined Total (Paris:TOTF.PA - News), which won a cargo in the first tender. Spain's Cepsa (Madrid:CEP.MC - News) and Repsol (Madrid:REP.MC - News) plus Turkish refiner Tupras (TUPRS.IS) also won cargoes in the previous tender. The loading rate comes to a paltry 363,000 barrels per day (bpd), versus pre-war capacity from the north and south of over two million bpd, underlining Baghdad's difficulties in resuming sustained production from Iraq's troubled oil sector. Repeated pipeline bombings have hampered supplies flowing north to the Ceyhan port while "economic sabotage" in the south is also causing difficulties, oil officials say.