Iraq, Russia Establish Oil Trade Firm in Dubai
A new joint trading company LIMA Energy has been set up by Russia’s Litasco, which controls Lukoil’s international trading activities, and Iraq’s state-oil marketer SOMO.
The company which will market crude oil has been established in Dubai .
Currently, a team is being formed which will work at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC). The company will trade not only in Iraqi and Russian crude oil, but also in oil originating in other countries.
“LIMA will lift the first cargo of Iraqi crude in May,” one source told Reuters.
About ten SOMO personnel could be transferred to LIMA.
Currenty, Lukoil, one of the world’s biggest traders, is developing oil fields in southern Iraq. After Saudi-Arabia, Iraq is the second-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
SOMO’s jurisdiction concerns the export of oil from all areas in Iraq, except oil originating from the Kurdistan Region. Earlier, SOMO sold its first cargo of Basra Light crude through auction on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME).