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Iraq is blessed with natural resources. It has water, oil, gas and sulphur, among many others. It also has adequate human resources. All that the country needs now is safety and security, and others to believe in its future.

Rebuilding Iraq: The century's deal'. The headline, which appeared in an Arabic-language newspaper shortly after the 1990-91 Gulf war ended, summarized it all.

Iraq, which has an abundance of natural resources, could offer investors numerous rebuilding contracts. This after the Americans had warned that they would, through the US-led multinational alliance, take the country back to the pre-industrial era.

Twenty years later, the circumstances look different. But the story has not changed much. Lack of total security and stability today is still obstructing the needed normal flow of investments into Iraq from different countries, including Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Yet, this doesn't negate the fact that Iraq is an un-utilized treasure for investments, say experts and economists.

"Iraq: the prize that outweighs all risks," was chosen as a title for a paper presented at a conference on doing business in Iraq that was held in Dubai recently. The situation in Iraq has changed a lot since the 2003 war. The whole political regime of the country was changed and it was torn apart.

One of the characteristics of the grand "prize" is the fact that it has a "$600 billion (Dh2.2 trillion) investment requirement," Luay Al Khatteeb, Executive Director at the Iraqi Energy Institute and author of the paper, explained.

Other features include nationwide reconstruction, long-term opportunities, constitutionally pro-market economy and plentiful oil and gas.

So far, the biggest chunk of investment money has been pumped into the more stable and secure northern region of Kurdistan. According to Iraqi Kurdish estimates, foreign direct investment stands at $12.5 billion.

However, things have started to change slowly.

Security improvement

"At the beginning, the trend was to invest in Kurdistan because of the security situation. However, the rest of Iraq is equally important," Hadeel Hassan, senior Associate at the Baghdad's office of Al Tamimi & Company law firm, explained to Gulf News. The company organized the Dubai conference on Iraq.

"The central government in Baghdad is indispensable and there are also [vital cities and areas, namely] Kirkuk and Basra," she said. Both cities have giant oil fields that are essential to the Iraqi economy.

"There are bigger and wider investment opportunities all over Iraq," she added.

With an average crude oil production of 2.45 million barrels per day, Iraq is the third largest OPEC producer. Iraq is also among the top five countries in terms of oil reserves. The country is also rich in phosphates and sulphur.

Foreign investment in oil extraction is not allowed in Iraq. However, foreign investment can be made in other oil-related services.

"Iraq is still the land of the century's deal, and it will continue to grow," Adnan Blebil, Director-General of the Iraqi Civil Authority, told Gulf News. "Today, we are looking for the necessities. The day will come when we will be looking for the unessential items, and the another day will come when we will be looking for the luxury things," he added.

With its nearly 30-million population, Iraq is a big market. It is also a "virgin" one. "All the country and all its economic sectors are virgin ones. Iraqi sectors need everything," Blebil added.

After the government implemented its "Law Enforcement Plan" in 2008, in which state security forces launched a campaign against illegal weapons and outlawed militias, the security situation started to improve.

"Even the security companies that had a presence in Kurdistan started heading towards Baghdad," Hassan said.

Changing economic circumstances

"A huge amount of investments are going into Iraq in the past 18 months," Rob Tolley, Director of Dubai-office of United Insurance Brokers Ltd, (UIP) pointed out.

UIP is among the insurance companies that are studying opening an office in Iraq in the coming few years, Tolley says.

Yet the image is still not that rosy.

Cost of protection and personal security could be many times over of what could be paid in other places other than Iraq. Knowing the country well is a must, according to security specialists.

While suicide attacks and insurgent bombings have tapered off in the past few years, local residents point to the fact that the attacks still taking place target Iraqis, a sign the attacks are political. In the past, the attacks targeted foreigners.

"Security is the capital of investment," said Jawhar Al Fahel, representative of Salah Al Deen province, in the Iraqi National Investment Authority.

Some projects carry a 10-year tax exemption, depending on the approval of the Iraqi Investment Commission. Under the commission's rules the exemption is usually applied to large projects in sectors such as health and energy.

But there are an increasing number of big foreign companies that are waiting for the right time to undertake projects in other parts of Iraq. Among them are UAE companies.

UAE companies

Two Emirati real estate and international investment companies, Al Maabar and Bloom, are close to signing contracts with the Iraqi National Investment Authority for two major housing projects in Baghdad and Karbala.

In late October 2008, the Abu Dhabi-based real estate investment company Al Maabar announced its plan to launch a $10 billion Al Rasheed Compound project in Baghdad. The project will cover 1,250 hectares in the centre of the city.

It comprises several key clusters including residential units, a commercial district, a technology centre, a hotel and hospitality district, health care and educational districts, and public facilities such as mosques and petrol stations. The company is backed by all four major Abu Dhabi developers: Aldar, Sorouh, Reem and Al Qudra. It was described at the time as the first real estate project on this scale to be undertaken in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

However, the cost of the project, which involves a mixed use complex comprising residential, commercial, health, hotels and entertainment, is expected to reach $20 billion, according to recent Iraqi press reports.

Growing interest

The Banks of Karbala project, a $28-billion project, will overlook Ar Razazah Lake, 15 kilometers west of Karbala, according to Iraqi press reports.

Other UAE companies are eyeing a third project, "The City of the Future", according to top investment officials. Several companies want to participate in the construction of 150,000 housing units as part of a project envisaging one million new houses nationwide, they added.

The total cost of the projects is an estimated $70 billion.

"UAE companies are the top companies investing in Iraqi real estate," said Sami Al Araji, chairman of the Iraqi National Investment Commission.

While UAE companies have also shown interest in other fields, Araji said, "Talks are still in an early stage with the Investment Commission," and there will be announcements once results are reached.

He also alluded to other sectors, including energy, communications and banks. While some UAE companies already have a presence in Kurdistan, the negotiations underway are "on giant projects all over Iraq," Araji said.

Air and trade links

UAE airlines, meanwhile, have added Iraqi cities to their schedules and are planning more.

The two major UAE airlines are increasing their services. Abu-Dhabi's Etihad has daily flights to Baghdad, and Dubai's Emirates plans to follow suit starting July 1.

Before the end of the year, some reports predict, the budget airlines, Dubai-based flydubai and Sharjah-based Air Arabia, will join them.

Already Iraq is the UAE's second biggest Arab trade partner after Saudi Arabia and the 11th globally.

UAE exports to Iraq jumped 41 per cent last year to $4.24 billion and Iraq's exports to the UAE grew 952 per cent to $778 million, according to Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade.

Shaikha Lubna last week led a UAE delegation of representatives of nearly 40 companies to the inaugural UAE-Iraqi Businessmen's Forum, which was attended by many senior Iraqi officials. Shaikha Lubna said during her visit last week to Kurdistan that non-oil trade between the two countries increased 63 per cent from $3.79 billion in 2008 to $5.19 billion in 2009.

Turkey is Iraq's biggest trade partner, mainly Kurdistan, Al Fahel said.

With a volume of nearly $9 billion, Turkey tops the list of exporters to Kurdistan. Ankara also accounts for nearly 55 per cent of foreign companies registered in the region.

Asked about the importance of companies rather than governments in the field of investment, Khatteeb replied: "In developed countries, it is the market economy that leads. The private sector, and not politics, leads the developed countries."

29 May 2010 - The Guardian

An OPEC quota of 6 million barrels per day (bpd) will be too low for Iraq and it expects its quota to be no less than that of OPEC's most influential member Saudi Arabia, Iraq's oil minister said on Thursday.

Top oil producer Saudi Arabia's OPEC quota is just over 8 million bpd. Iraq is the only one of OPEC's 12 members that is exempt from quotas after years of sanctions and war.

Baghdad has signed deals to boost oil output capacity to a level rivalling Saudi Arabia, and tough negotiations are expected in the future on its reincorporation into OPEC quotas.

"Yes, we expect that Iraq's quota would not be less than any other country in OPEC," Iraq's Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told Reuters in an interview, when asked if he expected Baghdad to have a quota equal to Saudi.

"Of course we don't think that 4 million barrels per day is an acceptable or reasonable quota for Iraq's production," he said, adding that a 6 million bpd quota would be too low.

Iraq strengthened its hands for any future negotiations when it agreed a series of deals that could boost its output capacity to around 12 million bpd in seven years from 2.5 million bpd now.

OIL PRICES

The recent drop in oil prices was unrelated to market fundamentals of supply and demand but was connected to Europe's financial crisis, Shahristani said.

Oil prices traded near $73 a barrel on Thursday, close to the bottom of the $70 to $80 range that many in OPEC have said is fair for both producers and consumers. The price dropped below $70 this week, which was too low to encourage investment in future projects to boost capacity, Shahristani said.

"What we noticed over the past days is volatility in the market -- that doesn't need any interference by OPEC in the time being," he said.

OPEC would continue to monitor oil price volatility to see if prices developed a downward trend before taking any action, Shahristani said.

"I think the oil market will correct itself and the prices will go back to what they were two or three weeks ago ... unless the crisis became worse in Europe," he said.

OPEC has left its output ceiling unchanged for more than a year since announcing a record supply curb of 4.2 million bpd in December 2008 to combat the global economic downturn.

Shahristani said he expected no change in OPEC output levels in October when the group next meets to discuss supply policy, if oil prices, supply and demand remained at current levels. "In general, I don't think that there will be big changes in the global oil market production or consumption or even in price levels that would need OPEC to take new decisions," he said. "I expect that OPEC would continue with current production levels."

Amman, 31 May 2010 - Dow Jones

The former head of Iraq’s largest state-owned oil company and advisor to the country’s oil ministry has criticised deals Baghdad signed with international oil majors to develop some of its biggest fields.

“There is no clear national plan on how to develop these huge oil fields,” Jabbar al-Luaiby told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Cnooc Ltd, Exxon Mobil Corp and Italy’s Eni Spa. (ENI.MI) have bagged deals with Iraq to develop fields in the war-torn country, which holds the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Iran, according to BP.

Al-Luaiby’s remarks could increase pressure on Baghdad to revise contracts awarded to foreign companies. Ayad Allawi’s Iraqiya bloc, which won the most seats in the recent parliamentary election, said it would like to review oil contracts signed with the majors.

“They’re huge deals that need the infrastructure, the potential and management which Iraq is currently lacking because of years of war, economic sanctions and destruction,” said al-Luaiby, who recently left his position as an advisor to Iraq’s oil minister.

Al-Luaiby added that international oil companies can still play a part in tapping Iraq’s vast resources once better infrastructure and oversight is in place. Foreign investment could help reverse the impact of two decades of war, sanctions and neglect on Iraq’s oil industry.

27 May 2010 - Newsweek

China is racing to secure Middle East oil deals, putting it on a possible collision course with U.S. interests in the world's most volatile region. China is now the biggest importer of Saudi oil, the second-biggest of Iranian oil, and the largest player in the Iraqi oil game. China is "being very aggressive," says Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "They're putting a lot of money on the bet that having ownership of oil fields is a better guarantee of supply than buying oil on the open market."

Beijing is betting big in Iraq, which many Western companies are avoiding. In November, the Chinese National Petroleum Co. (CNPC) won a large stake in a $15billion deal to develop the Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq, thought to be the second largest in the world. That followed a $3billion deal to develop the Ahdab oil field in 2008. And two other Chinese firms just closed a deal on a large oil field in eastern Iraq. Chinese companies have also shown much greater willingness to take on risk by placing their own nationals in war zones: CNPC has an office in Baghdad partly led by Chinese nationals.

China is also ramping up its ties to Iran as many Western firms pull out. Last summer, China signed $8billion in oil and gas deals with Tehran. It's also increased sales of gasoline to Iran, which has a lot of oil but few working refineries or stable gas suppliers. In fact, China is now Iran's biggest economic partner, with more than $21 billion in annual trade.

China is moving to protect its new oil ties in the Middle East, presenting a challenge to the West. China is reluctant to follow the U.S. line on Iran sanctions because of its oil interests. The two Chinese warships that docked in Abu Dhabi in March also sent a blunt message: China is willing to back up its interests with firepower. For their part, U.S. officials have tried to reassure Beijing that it can meet growing energy needs without dealing with Tehran and have pressured Saudi Arabia to give China oil guarantees to wean it off Iranian oil. Still, there will likely be plenty of other disagreements ahead as China increases its Middle East footprint. "Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable," Sun Bigan, China's former Middle East envoy, wrote in an essay in a Chinese academic journal last fall. "We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security."

Gavin Jones, Partner with Upper Quartile,writing for The EIC

Iraq is fast becoming the engine for the oil and gas industry and is likely to hold this position for the next 10 years at least.    I hope that this article will address the scale and speed of development of this market for the engineering industry.

The scale of the opportunity is difficult to put accurate numbers to but is always in the hundreds of billions.   BP, Shell, Petronas, ENI, Lukoil, Statoil, Gazprom, China National Petroleum, Sonangol and Total are all rolling out development plans for fields with reserves quoted in the billions and production in the thousands of barrels.

International oil companies will manage many billions of contract value but make relatively little.    The 1^st licence round in June 2009 was heavily criticised – Iraq had not allowed production sharing agreements, they were unreasonable in what they were prepared to pay, they were expecting the oil industry to do too much rebuilding.   The Wall Street Journal announced that the licence round had flopped.   BP was the only company to accept what was on offer at half of what they bid then paid $500 million as a signature bonus.    The 2^nd licence in December 2009 round saw all available licences taken up and fees reduced to between $1.49 and $1.15 per barrel for the big fields: a remarkable change from the $40+ demanded initially.    The Iraqi Government has commitments to produce 12 million barrels of oil a day and $2 billion in cash commitments from the oil industry – guaranteeing commitments and in May agreed to set up a National Oil Company to manage these relationships.    Oh …. And then the Government launched a 3^rd round of bids for 3 gas fields on the 19^th May.

What about the service industry?    The working environment, the structure of the licences and the obligations mean that most of the work is going to be subcontracted in large chunks – at least in the early years.    Work has already begun, accommodation camps are being built, airlines have started commercial flights into Basra, Al Faw Port is being refitted at a cost of $4 billion, BP announced $600 million of drilling and down-hole service contracts and in addition Iraq will have to build floating oil terminals, clear land at Greenfield sites, repair pipelines, rebuild terminals, set up water-treatment plants for well injection, build oil-processing plants, lay pipelines, install gas-gathering equipment and power generators, haul in water and truck out fuel until pipelines are built. Water and power infrastructure remain major constraints, considerable spend on skills and CSR is also anticipated.  Schlumberger started recruiting 600 staff in May and Petronas is recruiting “hundreds” of staff.   Capital spending on oilfield services in 2011 alone is estimated to be five times that of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait combined.

What about the problems?     Well there are plenty and they keep coming.    Currently in the election aftermath there are calls to revisit licence awards.   This will cause some discomfort but I think the licences will stay – they are an excellent deal for Iraq with about 98% of the oil revenue remaining in the country and the required laws will be passed when the internal deals are done.    There will be ongoing discussions with OPEC – Iraq will challenge the pecking order in OPEC and weaken Saudi dominance as the world’s “swing producer” (the single mega-producer has been able to tweak the global price of oil by adjusting its own production).   Iraq is on course to pass Iran as the Gulf’s second-largest producer causing a significant realignment of power in the region.  Any decision on OPEC will be postponed until Iraq is in a much stronger negotiating position – my guess - at around 4½ mbbd and increasing.   Security issues remain but are changing in objective, increasing in magnitude but decreasing in number.    Iraq remains a dangerous place but security services are improving.   The biggest problem is getting all this easy-to-produce oil out of the country and into the international markets – deals are being done with Turkey and Ports are being rebuilt.   The oil is easy enough to produce but you still have to get the stuff to the big consumers like China.    This is the next big phase.

And the money?   If Iraq hits their 12 million barrel target this should tip $222 billion into the coffers annually but is going to take a few years.   Meantime the Government have negotiated a World Bank loan – on condition that they privatise the 240 State companies –and have been told that they can manage the $180 billion oil-for-food fund that the UN was holding over from the old days of sanctions and of the $120 billion in debts $55 billion - and 80% of whatever they owed China - have been written off.     The current state owned infrastructure and services are unable to respond to existing demand, the systematic dismantling of the private sector under the previous regime means there is no prospect of increasing capacity quickly.

My view is that the Iraqi Government has been a great deal more astute than many of the Governments advising them – they have sorted out the critical pieces of infrastructure (airports and ports); they have sorted out their income generation (oil) at a pace that would embarrass most developed Governments; they have put the gas gathering on the back burner (important but does not generate income) and are now starting to focus on the infrastructure to export oil; the next will be the schools, roads, hospitals and electricity to keep its citizens content.    20:20 hindsight is wonderful – but we have come a long way since the world announced last years licence round as a flop

Gavin Jones

www.upperquartile.co.uk

Basra, 23 May 2010 - Gulf Daily News

Iraq expects crude output from its southern oilfields, Rumaila, Majnoon and West Qurna Phase One, to reach about 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of this year, the head of South Oil Company (SOC) said yesterday.

State-run SOC gave the estimates after international firms presented development plans and started issuing tenders for work in the supergiant fields, company head Dhiya Jaafar said.

Iraq, in desperate need of cash to rebuild after years of economic sanctions and underinvestment, has opened its vast oil reserves and some untapped fields to global oil companies.

It struck major deals in two auctions last year in a bid to raise its production capacity to Saudi Arabian levels of 12m bpd in seven years from 2.5m bpd now.

The potential workload in Iraq is unprecedented in the history of the oil industry.

Jaafar said the output target from Rumaila - the backbone of Iraq's oil production - is expected to hit 1.085m bpd after July this year from 1.065m bpd now, and a more than 10 per cent increase in production by the end of the year.

That would take the total production level from the field to about 1.2m bpd.

BP and China's CNPC signed a 20-year development contract last year to lift output at Rumaila, which has 17 billion barrels of estimated crude reserves.

"In Rumaila ... starting from the month of July, there will be obvious increases," he said.

23 May 2010 - Business Week

Iraq may maintain an economic growth rate of about 7 percent this year, led by oil, Central Bank Governor Sinan Al-Shabibi said.

Growth was about 7 percent as well in 2009, al-Shabibi said in an interview yesterday at an economic conference in Beirut. “Of course oil output is still the main driver,” he said.

Iraq holds the world’s third-largest oil reserves, with 115 billion barrels, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. The International Monetary Fund said it expects the economy of Iraq to expand 7.3 percent this year and 7.9 percent in 2011.

IMF and Iraqi authorities are projecting average production of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day with exports of 2.1 million barrels a day this year. Next year, the projections are for output of 2.9 million barrels a day and exports of 2.3 million a day.

The central bank cut its key interest rate by 1 percentage point to 6 percent in April to fuel growth.

Al-Shabibi said the bank has received requests from “six or seven” lenders seeking to set up units in Iraq or a partnership with existing banks in the country.

Minister says $1b project to raise export capacity to 4.5m bpd by 2012 is on track

Iraq expects crude output to increase by about 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) through 2011, based on initial plans from global firms for oilfields that were auctioned off last year, a senior oil official said yesterday.

Deputy Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaibi also said Iraq is moving ahead with a more than $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) project to raise its export capacity to 4.5 million bpd by the end of 2011 through the construction of new offshore terminals and pipelines.

"The increase we expect, which is 10 per cent for the oilfields from the first auction and the initial production for the oilfields from the second auction, is a total of about 600,000 barrels per day," Luaibi told Reuters in an interview.

"That will be achieved over this year and the next year."

The Opec member has signed a clutch of deals with global oil firms that could boost its output capacity to 12 million bpd in six to seven years' time from 2.5 million bpd now. That would rival top producer Saudi Arabia's capacity, and is viewed by most industry experts as a highly ambitious target.

Nevertheless, Iraq hopes the deals will generate the billions of dollars desperately needed to rebuild the economy. Luaibi said Iraq needs more than $10 billion to rebuild and expand its export and storage facilities beyond the initial $1 billion investment, after years of war, insurgency and sanctions left its oil infrastructure in a dilapidated state.

The Oil Ministry aims to invite foreign firms to help with the expansion as it will be short of the needed funds.

"We had 58 storage tanks in the Fao [peninsula] that were totally destroyed during the Iraq-Iran war and we had dozens of tanks and pumps that were totally destroyed," he said.

"The rebuilding and rehabilitation process needs time and more importantly cash and we have a limited budget," he added. "That's why... we would seek foreign investment."

To meet the anticipated jump in crude production, Iraq has invited interest from contractors for services to enhance its export facilities and pipelines in the southern oil hub city of Basra.

The $1-billion project — partially funded by a Japanese government loan — includes installing three offshore pipelines plus four single-point moorings. This would raise Iraq's export capacity from Basra to 4.5 million bpd by the end of next year from 1.9 million bpd now, Luaibi said.

( Reuters )

Cairo, 14 May 2010 - Reuters

• Sees Q2 net profit rising to $16-17.8 mln
• Sales in Iraq to reach 26,000 vehicles by year-end
• To start selling buses to Middle East, Europe by year-end

Egypt's GB Auto (Ghabbour Group) expects to double its profit in the second quarter, boosted by an increase in its vehicle sales to Iraq, company executives said on Thursday.

The automotive sector in Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, was hit last year by the downturn but demand has started to pick up, helped in part by a government plan to offer affordable vehicles for taxi drivers to buy.

The firm expects to double its second quarter profit to 90 million to 100 million Egyptian pounds ($16-17.9 million) on revenue of between 1.4 billion and 1.5 billion pounds, Chief Finance Officer Colin said.

"In the coming quarter, we expect profit to increase quite a bit on Iraq," Sykes said in a conference call.

Sales in Iraq, which began in mid-February, are to reach some 26,000 vehicles by the end of this year, up from 1,341 vehicles sold by the end of March, Sykes said.

The firm, Egypt's biggest listed automobile assembler, said on Tuesday its first quarter net income had jumped to 68.7 million pounds from 7.2 million in the same period last year, as sales extended a rebound from a slump in late 2008 and it expanded into Iraq.

Chief Executive Officer Raouf Ghabbour also said the firm planned to export buses to markets in the Middle East and Europe by the end of 2010.

"By the end of this year, we should start aggressive exports ... initially starting with the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region, focusing on big markets like Saudi Arabia and Algeria," Ghabbour said.

He added next year the company would target markets in other parts of Africa, and central and eastern Europe.

The firm manufactures, assembles, imports and distributes vehicles for Hyundai, Bajaj, Mitsubishi, Volvo and Mazda Motor Corp.

Iraq will supply crude to at least two Asian buyers at around 10 percent below contract volumes for June, possibly the first major cut in allocations by the OPEC producer this year, industry sources said on Wednesday.

The cut was on medium-heavy Basrah Light crude, they said.

It was not immediately known why Iraq cut the supply, but it might be related to production problems at its oilfield, the sources said.

Oil output and exports from Iraq fell last month due to repeated attacks against the Kirkuk-Ceyhan export oil pipeline and possible pumping problems in Basra fields.

A Reuters survey showed oil output in Iraq -- the only member of the 12-member OPEC producer group that does not have an agreed production limit -- fell to 2.28 million barrels per day (bpd) in April from 2.32 million bpd in March.

Iraq's oil exports fell slightly in April to 1.767 million bpd from 1.79 million bpd the month before, an Iraqi Oil Ministry official has said.

Iraq exported an average of 1.42 million bpd from the southern oil hub of Basra and 341,965 bpd from the northern oilfields around Kirkuk, including about 9,983 bpd by trucks to Jordan.

The fall in exports was due to bad weather in Basra and a brief halt of exports via the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline after a bomb attack last month.

Term buyers of Iraqi crude have not been eager to take Basrah Light in the first quarter of this year due to increased supplies of other medium-heavy grades, such as from Saudi Arabia, Qatari al Shaheen crude and the new Russian ESPO Blend, traders have said.

Reflecting the weak demend, Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) made a rare offer of 3 million barrels of Basrah Light on the spot market for loading in March.

Demand for Basrah Light improved slightly last month, with some cargoes heard to have traded at premiums to the official selling price (OSP), trader said.

Iraq raised the OSP of its Basrah Light crude loading in June to customers in Asia by 10 cents to a discount of $1.05 to the average of Oman/Dubai quotes.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia earlier this week said it would supply full volumes to at least seven Asian clients in June, steady from May, as oil held within the kingdom's preferred range and Asia was expected to lead demand growth. (Additional reporting by Florence Tan, James Topham in TOKYO, Ahmed Rasheed in BAGHDAD and Alex Lawler in LONDON; Editing by Ramthan Hussain)