Iraq and China ready to re-sign oil deal

IRAQ and China are close to re-signing a $1.2 billion (€0.78 million) oil deal that was called off after the 2003 US invasion, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official said yesterday.

Iraq sits on 115 billion barrels of oil, the world’s third-largest reserves, but violence and sabotage have crippled efforts to use the resource to fund the country’s reconstruction.

Iraq is trying to bring in foreign companies to help increase crude output from the present 2.5 million barrels a day to 3 million barrels a day by the end of 2008, and 4.5 million barrels a day by the end of 2013.