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Financial Sunday Express, 26th December 2004



UK oil minnows vie for contracts around the globe

....................Meanwhile in Iraq, Petrel Resources-another Aim-listed oil exploration company-is hoping to secure a redevelopment contract.

Earlier this year, Petrel submitted plans to develop the Hamrin and Subba & Luhais oil fields close to the Kuwaiti border and another near Kirkuk in the north. The Kirkuk contract has since been awarded to a Turkish-led consortium. Prior to the fall of Saddam Hussein, the fields produced as much as 140,000 barrels of oil per day but this has fallen to a trickle.

Petrel is confident it will win at least one of the contracts and believes output can quickly be restored despite the unrest.

Petrel is also applying for the right to explore in Iraq's Western Desert. Iraq has known reserves of 123 billion barrels, the second largest in the world after Saudi Arabia, which is thought to have 265 billion barrels.