European, US firms awarded bids for Iraqi oil

Four European firms and one from the United States were awarded bids for the purchase of six million barrels of oil from Iraq's northern fields, a spokesman for the Iraqi oil ministry said Sunday.
Assem Jihad said US major ExxonMobil had acquired a third of the offer in its second purchase in a month of oil from the Kirkuk fields.
The others, which each took up one million barrels, were named as Spain's Repsol YPF and Cepsa, Hellenic Petroleum from Greece and Tupras of Turkey.
In a first auction last month no US firm was successful, the winners being Royal Dutch/Shell, France's Total, Eni of Italy, Repsol YPF, Hellenic Petroleum and Tupras, with one million barrels each.
The oil will be piped for loading at Turkey's Mediterranean terminal of Ceyhan.
The pipeline became operational last month after being largely out of use since last August, following the invasion of US-led forces and the ousting of dictator Saddam Hussein.
Saddam loyalists and other insurgents were blamed for a series of attacks on the pipeline which disrupted flow.